(OP 205) New Materials for 3D-Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering Applications

• Published in: Tissue engineering. Part A 2008-05, Vol.14 (5), p.761-761
• Main Authors: Heller, C, Schuster, M, Baudis, S, Turecek, C, Varga, F, Bergmeister, H, Weigel, G, Stampfl, J, Liska, R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1937-3341; 1937-335X

Stereolithography has become a very appealing method for the production of three-dimensional scaffolds for several tissue engineering applications, e.g. for bone and blood vessel replacement. This layer-by-layer technique is based on the photopolymerization of commonly acrylate-containing resin formulations and allows the fabrication of cellular structures with defined pore sizes and attainable wall thicknesses down to 100 mu m. Nevertheless, residual, unreacted acrylate groups have shown to be highly cyto-toxic toward endothelial and osteoblast-like cells and a high local concentration of poly(acrylic acid), formed by in vivo degradation, may impair cell function. Therefore, a new class of vinyl ester-based monomers, forming harmless poly(vinyl alcohol) upon in-vivo degradation, has been synthesized. In-vitro biocom-patibility assays revealed that the concentrations leading to cyto-toxic cell damage are about two orders of magnitude higher compared to similar acrylate systems. This finding is corroborated by excellent cell adhesion and proliferation observed on the surface of vinyl ester-based polymer specimens. High reactivity for photopolymerization and good mechanical properties of the polymers further indicate the suitability of these monomers for rapid prototyping of 3D-scaffolds in the field of tissue engineering.