title: Multi-Material Tissue Engineering Scaffold with Hierarchical Pore Architecture.
abstract: Multi-material polymer scaffolds with multiscale pore architectures were characterized and tested with vascular and heart cells as part of a platform for replacing damaged heart muscle. Vascular and muscle scaffolds were constructed from a new material, poly(limonene thioether) (PLT32i), which met the design criteria of slow biodegradability, elastomeric mechanical properties, and facile processing. The vascular-parenchymal interface was a poly(glycerol sebacate) (PGS) porous membrane that met different criteria of rapid biodegradability, high oxygen permeance, and high porosity. A hierarchical architecture of primary (macroscale) and secondary (microscale) pores was created by casting the PLT32i prepolymer onto sintered spheres of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) within precisely patterned molds followed by photocuring, de-molding, and leaching out the PMMA. Pre-fabricated polymer templates were cellularized, assembled, and perfused in order to engineer spatially organized, contractile heart tissue. Structural and functional analyses showed that the primary pores guided heart cell alignment and enabled robust perfusion while the secondary pores increased heart cell retention and reduced polymer volume fraction.
authors.affiliation: Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Kathy Ye
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.affiliation: Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Demetra
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sklaviadis
authors.affiliation: Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Zachary L
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Tochka
authors.affiliation: Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Kristin M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.affiliation: Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Keith
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hearon
authors.affiliation: Harvard University School of Engineering & Applied Science, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.affiliation: Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Langer
authors.affiliation: Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Materials Engineering Division, Draper, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Lisa E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Freed
keywords: endothelial cell; heart cell; microfluidic; multiscale; polymer