Biodegradable Foams for Cell Transplantation

3D Micro-Tomographic imaging and Quantitative Morphometry for the Nondestructive Evaluation of Porous Biomaterials

Micro-computed tomography (μCT) is a new and emerging technique for the nondestructive assessment and analysis of the three-dimensional trabecular bone architecture. The applications of μCT with respect to the analysis of bone are manyfold. Nevertheless, it also holds high promise for the microstructural measurement and analysis of porous biomaterials. For the purpose of the study, a desk-top μCT providing a nominal isotropie resolution of 14 μm was used. Since the polymeric material has a very low X-ray absorption coefficient, the scaffolds were stained prior to measurement using a commercial X-ray contrast agent. This allowed not only to acquire important microstructural features of the diree-dimensional scaffold but also to compute standard structural indices such as BV/TV, BS/BV, Tb.N, Tb.Th, Tb.Sp and the degree of anisotropy (DA) using mean intercept length measurements. The preliminary results show that different types of scaffolds can be distinguished both qualitatively (visualization) and quantitatively (morphometry) provided an adequate X-ray staining technique is used. It can be concluded that, in the future, μCT may be of considerable help in basic as well as in applied research and development.

Poly(L-lactic acid) foams with cell seeding and controlled-release capacity

A synthetic porous three-dimensional structure that can mimic the architecture of actual tissues, provide sustained release of nutrients or growth factors, and serve as a template for cell seeding would be an ideal substrate for tissue engineering. Poly(l-lactic acid) (PLLA) foams were fabricated for this purpose, based on the principle of phase separation from homogeneous naphthalene solutions. Complex shapes could be readily fabricated, and resulting foams had relatively uniform, open cells throughout the matrix. Densities and total pore-surface areas were in the range of 0.05-0.1 g/cm3 and 0.8-1.3 m2/g, respectively. The loss tangent of these foams ranged from 0.07 to 0.128, as measured by thermomechanical analysis. Naphthalene residue in the resulting foams went below 0.2 wt% after extensive vacuum sublimation. Feasibility of incorporating drugs or nutrients into such a highly porous structure was demonstrated by the dispersion of two model compounds, bromothymol blue (BTB) and sulforhodamine B (SD), in the matrix. Sustained release of BTB from the foam with a porosity as high as 87% was observed for more than 2 months. Alkaline phosphatase, as a model protein to be incorporated, lost approximately 30% of its bioactivity during the fabrication. As a cell-culture substrate, the PLLA foams performed as well as the flat PLLA surface in supporting the growth of rat osteosarcoma cells (ROS 17/2.8) and in maintaining their functions such as alkaline phosphatase activity and osteocalcin synthesis. UMR-106 cells cultured in the foam also expressed a higher degree of mineralization than those cultured on the flat PLLA substrate.