Synthetic polymers porous scaffolds

Selection of a tissue engineering substrate includes a choice between absorbable and nonabsorbable material, as well as a choice between synthetic and naturally derived materials. The most common synthetic polymers used for fibrous meshes and porous scaffolds include polyesters such as polylactide and polyglycolide and their copolymers, polycaprolactone, and polyethylene glycol. Synthetic polymers have advantages over natural polymers in select instances, such as the following i... 

Preparation of Porous Scaffolds of Biodegradable Synthetic Polymers.87... 

The embossing ice particulates can be used to control the surface pore structures and to create micropatterned structures in porous scaffolds of naturally derived biodegradable polymers. When free ice particulates that are not embossed on a substrate are used, the inner body pore structures of biodegradable polymers can be controlled. In this case, preprepared ice particulates are used as a porogen material. The ice particulates are mixed with precooled polymer solution. The mixture is subsequently frozen slowly and freeze-dried. This method has been used to prepare porous scaffolds of biodegradable synthetic polymers and biodegradable naturally derived polymers [16-18,22]. 

Overall, fiber bonding is a very simple technique and allows the fabrication of highly porous scaffolds, although there is low control over porosity and pore size. The physical properties of the polymers (melting temperature, immiscibility), together with the solvent choice, greatly limit the appUcability of this technique to other synthetic polymers. ... 

---