A "room-temperature" injection molding/particulate leaching approach for fabrication of biodegradable three-dimensional porous scaffolds.
A "room-temperature" injection molding approach combined with particulate leaching (RTIM/PL) has been, for the first time, developed in this work to fabricate three-dimensional porous scaffolds composed of biodegradable polyesters for tissue engineering. In this approach, a "wet" composite of particulate/polymer/solvent was used in processing, and thus the injection was not performed at melting state. Appropriate viscosity and flowability were facilely obtained at a certain solvent content so that the composite was able to be injected into a mould under low pressure at room temperature, which was very beneficial for avoiding thermal degradation of polyesters. As a demonstration, tubular and ear-shaped porous scaffolds were fabricated from biodegradable poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) by this technology. Porosities of the resulting scaffolds were as high as 94%. The pores were well interconnected. Besides the well-known characteristics of injection molding to be suitable for automatization of a fabrication process with high repeatability and precision, this RTIM/PL approach is much suitable for tailoring highly porous foams with its advantages flexible for shaping complicated scaffolds, free of thermal degradation and high-pressure machine, etc.
Wu
Linbo
L
Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Department of Macromolecular Science, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
Jing
Dianying
D
Ding
Jiandong
J
D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D046508:Culture Techniques; D006801:Humans; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D008422:Materials Testing; D011100:Polyglycolic Acid / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D000077182:Polylactic Acid-Polyglycolic Acid Copolymer; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D012997:Solvents / Q000737:chemistry; D013499:Surface Properties; D013696:Temperature; D023822:Tissue Engineering
D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D011108:Polymers; D012997:Solvents; D000077182:Polylactic Acid-Polyglycolic Acid Copolymer; D011100:Polyglycolic Acid; D019344:Lactic Acid