Biodegradation and Histological Response of PHBV Porous Scaffolds

ÉLIDA B. HERMIDA; I. RUIZ; A. BALDESSARI; E. KREIMANN; R. CABRINI; G. JUVENAL; G.N. HERMIDA; M. FUNGUEIRO

Mar del Plata

Workshop; 2º Taller de Organos Artificiales, Biomateriales e Ingenieria de Tejidos; 2011

Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales, INTEMA (UNMdP-CONICET) y Sociedad Latinoamericana de Biomateriales, Ingeniería de Tejidos y Órganos Artificiales (SLABO)

Temporary scaffolds for tissue engineering require bioabsorbable materials that degrades into non-toxic substances once the tissue is repaired. Furthermore, these materiales must have suitable mechanical properties to prevent friability, adapt to anatomical contours, facilitate handling by surgeons and last but not least, a proper surface to enhance the adhesion, motility and proliferation of cells and the interaction with the surrounding tissue. Since polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) satisfy these properties, many researchers have focused on them to build up bioabsorbable scaffolds to be harvested with osteoblasts, human mesenchymal stem cells, fibroblasts, vascular cells, among others. One of the drawbacks of these biopolyesters, particularly of the one used in this work, polyhydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate (PHBV), is the slow bioabsorption rate, which affects negatively the formation of the new tissue. Thus, the aim of this work is to evaluate the degradation rate of the scaffold with different mesostructures in different media; measurements include dry weight of samples stored at 37ºC and pH 7.4 in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) and PBS with lipases as well as changes in the molecular weight of PHBV. Furthermore, from H&E-stained sections, the inflammatory response after subcutaneous implantation of porous PHBV scaffolds on rats and the the cell density and the number of giant cells within the scaffolds are determined.