Dong Guk Sohna, Myoung Wha Hongb, Young Yul Kimb, , , Young-Sam Choa, , 

a Division of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, College of Engineering, Wonkwang University, 460 Iksandae-ro, Iksan, Jeonbuk, 570-749, Republic of Korea

b Department of Orthopedics, Daejeon St. Mary's Hospital, Catholic University of Korea, 64, Daeheung-ro, Jung-gu, Daejeon, 301-723, Republic of Korea

 

Abstract

In this study, to fabricate dual-pore scaffolds with interconnected pores, Non-solvent Induced Phase Separation (NIPS) and Wire-Network Molding (WNM) techniques were combined. First, a mold with uniform slits was prepared, and needles were inserted into the mold. Subsequently, polycaprolactone (PCL) pellets were dissolved in tetrahydrofuran (THF) at a specified ratio. The slurry was mixed using hot plate stirrer at 1200 rpm for 24 hours at 40 °C. The PCL slurry was subsequently injected into the mold. Thereafter, to exchange the THF (solvent) with the ethanol (non-solvent), the mold was soaked in an ethanol bath. After removing the mold from the ethanol bath, the needles were removed from the mold. Consequently, dual-pore scaffold with interconnected pores was obtained. The surface morphology of the fabricated scaffolds were observed using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Moreover, cell culture experiments were performed using the CCK-8 assay, and the characteristics of cells grown on the dual-pore scaffolds were assessed and were compared with the NIPS-based 3D plotting scaffold.

 

Keywords

tissue engineering; scaffold; polycaprolactone (PCL); Wire-Network Molding (WNM); Non-solvent Induced Phase Separation (NIPS)

 

Full text is available at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1672652914601463