title: Thermoforming techniques for manufacturing porous scaffolds for application in 3D cell cultivation.
abstract: Within the scientific community, there is an increasing demand to apply advanced cell cultivation substrates with increased physiological functionalities for studying spatially defined cellular interactions. Porous polymeric scaffolds are utilized for mimicking an organ-like structure or engineering complex tissues and have become a key element for three-dimensional (3D) cell cultivation in the meantime. As a consequence, efficient 3D scaffold fabrication methods play an important role in modern biotechnology. Here, we present a novel thermoforming procedure for manufacturing porous 3D scaffolds from permeable materials. We address the issue of precise thermoforming of porous polymer foils by using multilayer polymer thermoforming technology. This technology offers a new method for structuring porous polymer foils that are otherwise available for non-porous polymers only. We successfully manufactured 3D scaffolds from solvent casted and phase separated polylactic acid (PLA) foils and investigated their biocompatibility and basic cellular performance. The HepG2 cell culture in PLA scaffold has shown enhanced albumin secretion rate in comparison to a previously reported polycarbonate based scaffold with similar geometry.
authors: Ilmenau University of Technology, Nano-Biosystem Technology Department, Gustav-Kirchhoff-Straße 7, 98693 Ilmenau, Germany. Electronic address: justyna.borowiec@tu-ilmenau.de.
authors: Justyna
authors: J
authors: Borowiec
authors: Ilmenau University of Technology, Nano-Biosystem Technology Department, Gustav-Kirchhoff-Straße 7, 98693 Ilmenau, Germany. Electronic address: joerg.hampl@tu-ilmenau.de.
authors: Jörg
authors: J
authors: Hampl
authors: Ilmenau University of Technology, Nano-Biosystem Technology Department, Gustav-Kirchhoff-Straße 7, 98693 Ilmenau, Germany. Electronic address: michael.gebinoga@tu-ilmenau.de.
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Gebinoga
authors: Prince Sultan University, Prince Salman Research & Translation Center, College of Engineering, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: telsarnagawy@hotmail.com.
authors: Tarek
authors: T
authors: Elsarnagawy
authors: King Saud University, College of Science, Zoology Department, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: yelnakady@ksu.edu.sa.
authors: Yasser A
authors: YA
authors: Elnakady
authors: Helwan University, Biomedical Engineering Department, Helwan, Egypt. Electronic address: menhfef@ksu.edu.sa.
authors: Hassan
authors: H
authors: Fouad
authors: King Saud University, College of Science, Department of Botany and Microbiology, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: majhdi@ksu.edu.sa.
authors: Fahd
authors: F
authors: Almajhadi
authors: Ilmenau University of Technology, Nano-Biosystem Technology Department, Gustav-Kirchhoff-Straße 7, 98693 Ilmenau, Germany. Electronic address: uta.fernekorn@tu-ilmenau.de.
authors: Uta
authors: U
authors: Fernekorn
authors: Ilmenau University of Technology, Nano-Biosystem Technology Department, Gustav-Kirchhoff-Straße 7, 98693 Ilmenau, Germany. Electronic address: frank.weise@tu-ilmenau.de.
authors: Frank
authors: F
authors: Weise
authors: Ilmenau University of Technology, Nano-Biosystem Technology Department, Gustav-Kirchhoff-Straße 7, 98693 Ilmenau, Germany. Electronic address: sukhdeep.singh@tu-ilmenau.de.
authors: Sukhdeep
authors: S
authors: Singh
authors: Academy for Scientific Research & Technology, Cairo, Egypt. Electronic address: Delsarnagawy@psu.edu.sa.
authors: Dief
authors: D
authors: Elsarnagawy
authors: Ilmenau University of Technology, Nano-Biosystem Technology Department, Gustav-Kirchhoff-Straße 7, 98693 Ilmenau, Germany. Electronic address: andreas.schober@tu-ilmenau.de.
authors: Andreas
authors: A
authors: Schober
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D008422:Materials Testing; D051379:Mice; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D016062:Porosity; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds
keywords: 3D; Cell culture; Hepatocyte; Polylactic acid (PLA); Polymer scaffold