Abstract
Porous scaffold is widely used in the field of tissue engineering. However, the anisotropic structure of actual extracellular matrix (ECM) of human tissue pose a challenge to the scaffold structure that pore size should be changed in gradient. Here we report a stage cooling method to fabricate alginate scaffold with gradient pores. Eight cooling models were set according to different temperature steps, different initial temperature, and different time duration. The thermal characterization of solution during cooling process were recorded and scaffold morphology were observed. The results revealed that the temperature steps mainly affected pore shape, while the initial temperature and time duration mainly affected pore size. By altering the initial temperature and time duration, scaffold exhibited cellular and gradually enlarged pores on the vertical axial direction (10–65 μm at base, 50–141 μm at top). With this stage cooling method, pore shape and pore size could be easily tailored and scaffold with gradient structure could be fabricated.
Highlights
Tissue engineering has been widely used for reconstruction of damaged tissue or organs, such as artificial skin, synthetic bone and vascular grafts
Alginate is a naturally biodegradable polymer that typically obtained from seaweeds. It has been certificated by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for tissue engineering application
Freeze-drying method with stage cooling process was adopted to produce scaffolds with gradient pores mimicking the gradient structure of human skin
Summary
Tissue engineering has been widely used for reconstruction of damaged tissue or organs, such as artificial skin, synthetic bone and vascular grafts. Tissue engineering scaffold with a specific gradient pore structure resembling the actual ECM would have great potential for the regeneration and repair of a broad range of damaged anisotropic tissues. Freeze-drying method is an important technique to overcome the above obstacles In this case the solution or slurry of polymer is frozen, thereby creating an interpenetrating network of ice crystals[18,19]. These ice crystals are removed by reducing the chamber pressure to induce sublimation, leading to the formation of a porous scaffold This method is applied to natural polymers like alginate and collagen[20,21]. The ideal scaffold was expected to have gradually changed pore size
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