Hydroxyapatite Pickering PolyHIPEs And “Thermo”HIPEs As Injectable Scaffolds For Tissue Engineering

Abstract

ABSTRACTTwo types of porous materials derived from emulsion templates are described as potential scaffolds for tissue engineering. Novel oil-in-water particle stabilised, Pickering High Internal Phase Emulsions (HIPE) stabilised with hydroxyapatite (HAp) nanoparticles were prepared and polymerised to form stable polyHIPEs. By adding a water soluble glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) derivatised dextran as monomer to the continuous aqueous phase of the HIPEs, these Pickering-HIPEs stabilised by nontoxic biocompatible HAp nanoparticles, can be used as templates to manufacture interconnected high porosity macroporous hydrogels. A second type of emulsion templated “poly”HIPE was prepared without the need for covalent crosslinking chemistry which was replaced by a thermally-induced non-covalent scaffold forming process (thermoHIPE). These scaffolds form close to body temperature and potentially offer a new approach to the formation of injectable scaffolds for tissue engineering.