A novel composite scaffold comprising ultralong hydroxyapatite microtubes and chitosan: preparation and application in drug delivery

In this work, a novel ultralong hydroxyapatite microtube (HMT)–chitosan (CHS) composite scaffold has been successfully prepared. The mechanical properties of the HMT–CHS composite scaffold is greatly improved compared with the CHS–hydroxyapatite nanorod scaffold and the pure chitosan scaffold. By using gentamicin sulfate (GS) as the model drug, the GS-loaded HMT–CHS composite scaffold has a high drug loading capacity, sustained drug release behavior and high antibacterial activity. The as-prepared HMT–CHS composite scaffold has promising applications in various fields such as drug delivery and bone defect repair.