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Gas-Foamed Scaffold Gradients for Combinatorial Screening in 3D

Published

Author(s)

Carl G. Simon Jr., Kaushik Chatterjee, Alison M. Kraigsley, Joachim Kohn, Durgadas Bolikal

Abstract

Current methods for screening cell-material interactions typically utilize two-dimensional (2D) culture format where cells are cultured on flat surfaces. However, there is a need for combinatorial and high-throughput screening methods to systematically screen cell-biomaterial interactions in three-dimensional (3D) tissue scaffolds for tissue engineering. Previously, we developed a two-syringe pump approach for making 3D scaffold gradients for use in combinatorial screening and these scaffold gradients were made by a salt-leaching method. Herein, we demonstrate that the two-syringe pump approach can also be used to create scaffold gradients using a gas-foaming approach. Macroporous foams prepared by a gas-foaming technique are commonly used for fabrication of tissue engineering scaffolds due to their high interconnectivity and good mechanical properties. Gas-foamed scaffold gradient libraries were fabricated from two biodegradable tyrosine-derived polycarbonates: poly(desaminotyrosyl-tyrosine ethyl ester carbonate) (pDTEc) and poly(desaminotyrosyl-tyrosine octyl ester carbonate) (pDTOc). The composition of the libraries was assessed with FTIR and showed that pDTEc/pDTOc gas-foamed scaffold gradients could be repeatably fabricated. Scanning electron microscopy showed that scaffold morphology was similar between the pDTEc-rich ends and the pDTOc-rich ends of the gradient. These results introduce a method for fabricating gas-foamed polymer scaffold gradients that can be used for combinatorial screening of cell-material interactions in 3D.
Citation
Journal of Biomaterials Science Polymer Edition
Volume
3

Keywords

cell-material interactions, combinatorial screening, polymer, scaffold, tissue engineering

Citation

Simon, C. , Chatterjee, K. , Kraigsley, A. , , J. and Bolikal, D. (2012), Gas-Foamed Scaffold Gradients for Combinatorial Screening in 3D, Journal of Biomaterials Science Polymer Edition (Accessed March 19, 2024)
Created May 1, 2012, Updated February 19, 2017