Fabrication and characterization of porous scaffolds for tissue engineering

IGNACIO RUIZ; ALICIA BALDESSARI; ELIDA HERMIDA

Journal of Physics Conference Series

Institute of Physics

Año: 2011 vol. 332 p. 12028 - 12028

1742-6588

Porous scaffolds of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) were elaborated by three different techniques: salt leaching (SL), emulsion solvent evaporation (ESE) and temperature induced phase separation (TIPS). For SL partially fused sieved grains of sodium chloride (106-355 µm) were used as porogen. Emulsions, prepared from a solution of PHBV in chloroform allow getting flexible films; the content of surfactant may be used to control the pore size.  The pore size of the TIPS scaffolds decreased on increasing the cooling rate and the morphology of the interconnected structure could be controlled by changing the temperature gradient. Finally, chemical changes associated to the enhancement of hydrophilic behaviour of the scaffolds after alkaline and enzymatic hydrolysis as well as after sterilization by g irradiation are presented.