TUBULAR SCAFFOLD FOR VASCULAR TISSUE ENGINEERING APPLICATION

Abstract

A critical obstacle in tissue engineering is the inability to maintain large masses of living cells upon transfer from the in vitro culture conditions into the host in vivo. Capillaries, and the vascular system, are required to supply essential nutrients, including oxygen, remove waste products and provide a biochemical communication “highway”. Another goal in this research field is the possibility to tune the biodegradability of the scaffold. After implantation, the scaffold has to be gradually replaced by cells and extra cellular matrix and it is crucial that this replacement takes place with an appropriate dynamics. A premature degradation, in fact, could lead to a collapse of the structure as the newly generated tissue could not have reached yet the suitable mechanical properties. Conversely, a long degradation time could brake or completely interrupt the development of the new tissue. In this work PLLA-PLA scaffolds for vascular tissue engineering were produced by dip-coating via Diffusion Induced Phase Separation (DIPS) technique. Pure PLA scaffolds and 75/25 PLA/PLLA scaffolds were obtained and characterized. No homogeneous scaffolds were obtained by using a 50/50 PLLA/PLA blend.