High Throughput Manufacturing of Bio-Resorbable Micro-Porous Scaffolds Made of Poly(L-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) by Micro-Extrusion for Soft Tissue Engineering Applications

Porous scaffolds made of elastomeric materials are of great interest for soft tissue engineering. Poly(L-lactide-co- -caprolactone) (PLCL) is a bio-resorbable elastomeric copolymer with tailorable properties, which make this material an appropriate candidate to be used as scaffold for vascular, tend...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polymers 2019-12, Vol.12 (1), p.34
Main Authors: Mendibil, Xabier, Ortiz, Rocío, Viteri, Virginia Sáenz de, Ugartemendia, Jone M, Sarasua, Jose-Ramon, Quintana, Iban
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biodegradable materials
Copolymers
Dimensional stability
Elastomers
Extrusion
Leaching
Manufacturing
Mechanical properties
Nerves
Particle size
Polymers
Pore size
Porosity
Salt
Scaffolds
Soft tissues
Stability analysis
Swelling
Tissue engineering
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Summary:Porous scaffolds made of elastomeric materials are of great interest for soft tissue engineering. Poly(L-lactide-co- -caprolactone) (PLCL) is a bio-resorbable elastomeric copolymer with tailorable properties, which make this material an appropriate candidate to be used as scaffold for vascular, tendon, and nerve healing applications. Here, extrusion was applied to produce porous scaffolds of PLCL, using NaCl particles as a leachable agent. The effects of the particle proportion and size on leaching performance, dimensional stability, mechanical properties, and ageing of the scaffolds were analyzed. The efficiency of the particle leaching and scaffold swelling when wet were observed to be dependent on the porogenerator proportion, while the secant moduli and ultimate tensile strengths were dependent on the pore size. Porosity, swelling, and mechanical properties of the extruded scaffolds were tailorable, varying with the proportion and size of porogenerator particles and showed similar values to human soft tissues like nerves and veins (E = 7-15 MPa, σ = 7 MPa). Up to 300-mm length micro-porous PLCL tube with 400-µm thickness wall was extruded, proving extrusion as a high-throughput manufacturing process to produce tubular elastomeric bio-resorbable porous scaffolds of unrestricted length with tunable mechanical properties.
ISSN:2073-4360
2073-4360
DOI:10.3390/polym12010034