title: Wetting of poly(L-lactic acid) and poly(DL-lactic-co-glycolic acid) foams for tissue culture.
abstract: Biodegradable foams of hydrophobic polymers can be efficiently wet by two-step immersion in ethanol and water, which overcomes the hindered entry of water into air-filled pores. Ethanol readily enters into the porous polymer, after which it is diluted and replaced by water. This method was evaluated for porous disks of poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) and poly(DL-lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) foams of copolymer ratios 85:15 and 50:50. For PLLA disks of 0.88 porosity and 1730 microns thickness, prewetting with ethanol for 1 h increased the percentage of void volume filled with water after 48 h from 23 to 79%. The same enhanced entry of water was also observed for prewet PLGA 85:15 disks of 0.86 porosity and 1300 microns thickness, which exhibited an increase from 59 to 97% void volume occupied by water. Furthermore, the water entry even after 1 h was very close to its plateau value for all prewet polymers tested. In recent studies, this method has been useful in uniformly seeding three-dimensional biodegradable polymer substrates for cell and tissue culture.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Mikos
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Lyman
authors.forename: L E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Freed
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Langer
mesh_terms: D046508:Culture Techniques; D007773:Lactates / Q000737:chemistry; D019344:Lactic Acid; D011091:Polyesters; D011100:Polyglycolic Acid; D000077182:Polylactic Acid-Polyglycolic Acid Copolymer; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry; D017155:Wettability
chemical_list: D007773:Lactates; D011091:Polyesters; D011108:Polymers; D000077182:Polylactic Acid-Polyglycolic Acid Copolymer; D011100:Polyglycolic Acid; D019344:Lactic Acid; C033616:poly(lactide)