Recentresearchshowsthattheadditionofchitosanmicrospheres（CMs）topoly（L-lactide）（PLLA）canresultinacompositescaffoldmaterialwithimprovedbiocompatibilityandmechanicalpropertiesfortissueengineeringapplications.However,researchregardingtheinfluenceofCMsonscaffolddegradationisabsentintheliterature.ThispaperpresentsastudyontheinvitrodegradationofscaffoldsmadefromPLLAwithCMs.Inthisstudy,thePLLA/CMsscaffoldswitha25%ratioofCMstoPLLAwereimmersedinphosphate-bufferedsaline（PBS）solutionat37℃for8weeks.Theinvitrodegradationofthescaffoldswasinvestigatedusingmicro-computedtomography（μCT）,weightlossanalysis,Ramanspectroscopy,anddifferentialscanningcalorimetry（DSC）.MicrostructurechangesduringdegradationweremonitoredusingμCT.TheμCTresultswereconsistentwiththeresultsobtainedfromRamanspectraandDSCanalysis,whichreflectedthataddingCMsintoPLLAcandecreasethedegradationratecomparedwithpurePLLAscaffolds.TheresultssuggestthatPLLA/CMsscaffolddegradationcanberegulatedandcontrolledtomeetrequirementsimposedagiventissueengineeringapplication.
