Formation of highly porous biodegradable scaffolds
for tissue engineering

Antonios G. Mikos^*
Department of Bioengineering, Rice University
6100 Main, MS 142, Houston, TX 77005-1892,USA
Tel: 1-713-348-5355
Fax: 1-713-348-5353
E-mail: mikos@rice.edu

Johnna S. Temenoff
Department of Bioengineering, Rice University
6100 Main, MS 142, Houston, TX 77005-1892, USA
Tel: 1-713-348-5355
Fax: 1-713-348-5353
E-mail: temenoff@rice.edu

Departments of Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering,
Rice University, 6100 Main, Houston, TX 77005-1892


*Corresponding author

Financial Support: National Institutes of Health (USA, Grant nos. R01-AR44381, R01-DE13031, and R29-AR42639), Whitaker Foundation (USA)


Keywords: Bioresorbable materials, Poly(glycolic acid), Poly(lactic acid), Porogen, Porous foams, Tissue regeneration.

In recent years, lack of donor organs has caused many to consider tissue engineering methods as means to replace diseased or damaged organs. This newly-emerging field uses tissue-specific cells in a three-dimensional organization, provided by a scaffolding material, to return functionality of the organ. For these applications, the choice of scaffolding material is crucial to the success of the technique. In addition to the chemical properties of the material, physical properties such as surface area for cell attachment are essential. Various methods of creating pores in these materials to increase surface area are reviewed here. Scaffolds formed using the different techniques, which include fiber bonding, solvent casting/particulate leaching, gas foaming and phase separation, are compared on the basis of porosity, pore size, and promotion of tissue growth.