Biomineralization of soft scaffolds is a new venture in bone tissue engineering. This work aimed to develop a new injectable and in-situ gelling soft scaffold with chitosan and apatites through a rapid purine-crosslinking reaction. The scaffolds were fabricated by mixing chitosan, adenosine diphosphate and biominerals in an ‘all-in-one-step’ procedure. The gelling of chitosan via the crosslinker occurs in < 4 seconds as measured by impedance spectroscopy. These soft gels could retain up to 4 times their weight in water. Spectroscopy showed the formation of ionic bonds between chitosan and the apatites. Morphological analyses revealed an interconnected, highly porous structure, with pore size ranging from 200 nm-200 μm that was maintained even with the biominerals. Rheology showed a viscoelastic behavior of the solutions and the elastic behavior of the sponges, and therefore their injectability potential. In vitro studies showed good cell adhesion and morphology, as well as potential use for bone tissue engineering applications.

软支架的生物矿化是骨组织工程学中的一项新尝试。这项工作的目的是通过快速的嘌呤交联反应来开发一种新型的可注射和原位凝胶化的壳聚糖和磷灰石软质支架。通过将壳聚糖，二磷酸腺苷和生物矿物质按“一站式”程序进行混合来制造支架。经由交联剂的壳聚糖的胶凝在＜4秒内发生，如通过阻抗谱测量的。这些软凝胶在水中的重量最多可以保持其4倍。光谱显示壳聚糖和磷灰石之间形成离子键。形态学分析显示了相互连接的高度多孔的结构，其孔径范围在200 nm-200μm之间，即使使用生物矿物也能保持这种状态。体外研究显示出良好的细胞粘附性和形态，以及在骨组织工程应用中的潜在用途。