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Fabrication of bimodal porous PLGA scaffolds by supercritical CO 2 foaming/particle leaching technique
Author(s) -
Xin Xin,
Liu QianQian,
Chen ChuanXin,
Guan YiXin,
Yao ShanJing
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.43644
Subject(s) - plga , materials science , supercritical fluid , porosity , macropore , chemical engineering , leaching (pedology) , nucleation , particle size , particle (ecology) , composite material , nanoparticle , chemistry , nanotechnology , mesoporous material , organic chemistry , environmental science , oceanography , geology , soil science , engineering , soil water , catalysis
Specific pore structure is a vital essential for scaffolds applied in tissue engineering. In this article, poly(lactide‐ co ‐glycolide) (PLGA) scaffolds with a bimodal pore structure including macropores and micropores to facilitate nutrient transfer and cell adhesion were fabricated by combining supercritical CO 2 (scCO 2 ) foaming with particle leaching technique. Three kinds of NaCl particles with different scales (i.e., 100–250, <75, <10 μm) were used as porogens, respectively. In particular, heterogeneous nucleation occurred to modify scCO 2 foaming/particle leaching process when NaCl submicron particles (<10 μm) were used as porogens. The observation of PLGA scaffolds gave a formation of micropores (pore size <10 μm) in the cellular walls of macropores (pore size around 100–300 μm) to present a bimodal pore structure. With different mass fractions of NaCl introduced, the porosity of PLGA scaffolds ranged from 68.4 ± 1.4 to 88.7 ± 0.4% for three NaCl porogens. The results of SEM, EDS, and in vitro cytotoxicity test of PLGA scaffolds showed that they had uniform structures and were compatible for cell proliferation with no toxicity. This novel scCO 2 foaming/particle leaching method was promising in tissue engineering due to its ability to fabricate scaffolds with precise pore structure and high porosity. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133 , 43644.