Scaffold fabrication techniques

The authors described several other fabrication techniques, but their conclusions are the important parts of their report Conventional scaffold fabrication techniques are incapable of precisely controlling pore size, pore geometry, spatial distribution of pores and construction of internal channels within the scaffold. They also state that scaffolds produced by the solvent casting-particulate leaching technique cannot guarantee interconnection of pores because interconnection is dependent on whether the adjacent salt particles are in contact. Moreover, only thin scaffold cross sections can be produced due to difficulty in removing salt particles deep in the matrix. 

Concerning the need to produce PUR scaffold with biomimetic architecture, different fabrication techniques are available, including both conventional and rapid prototyping techniques. Depending on the PUR physicochemical properties and final scaffold requirements, an optimal fabrication technique can be selected. Table 6.6 summarises the main scaffold fabrication techniques and their advantages and disadvantages. 

Table 6.6 Main conventional and unconventional scaffold fabrication techniques, their advantages and disadvantages...

Another scaffold fabrication technique is thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) [34,46,84,147-149]. TIPS involves decreasing the temperature of a polymer solution to obtain a polymer-rich and polymer-poor phase. Following phase separation, the solvent is removed using one of a number of methods (freeze drying, evaporation) resulting in the formation of pores in the polymer stracture. TIPS can also be combined with the use of porogens to increase void fraction, have better control over pore size, or improve pore interconnectivity. 

Scaffold Fabrication technique Mechanical performance References... 

As discussed in the above sections, biodegradable PU scaffolds have been attractive for tissue regeneration. Various scaffold fabrication techniques and surface modification approaches have been developed to tailor scaffold properties for... 

While recent advances in scaffold fabrication techniques show great promise, further research is still required in order to both understand and replicate the complex environments found in the native ECM. Closer mimicking of the ECM and integration of more sophisticated biological signalling into synthetic scaffolds will undoubtedly lead to further advances in this field. 

McHugh, K.J., Tao, S.L., Saint-Geniez, M. A novel porous scaffold fabrication technique for epithelial and endothelial tissue engineering. J. Mater. Sci. Mater. Med. 24, 1659-1670 (2013). doi 10.1007/sl0856-013-4934-l... 

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