Porous poly(ε-caprolactone) scaffolds for load-bearing tissue regeneration: Solventless fabrication and characterization

Three-dimensional interconnected porous poly(epsilon-caprolactone) scaffolds have been prepared by a novel solventless scaffold fabrication approach combining cryomilling and compression molding/porogen leaching techniques. This study investigated the effects of processing parameters on scaffold morphology and properties for tissue regeneration. Specifically, the effects of molding temperature, cryomilling time, and porogen mix were examined. Fifty percentage of porous scaffolds were fabricated with a range of properties: mean pore size from approximate to 40 to 125 m, water uptake from approximate to 50 to 86%, compressive modulus from approximate to 45 to 84 MPa, and compressive strength at 10% strain from approximate to 3 to 4 MPa. Addition of 60 wt % NaCl salt resulted in a approximate to 50% increase in porosity in multimodal pore-size structures that depended on the method of NaCl addition. Water uptake ranged from approximate to 61 to 197%, compressive modulus from approximate to 4 to 8.6 MPa, and compressive strength at 10% strain from approximate to 0.36 to 0.40 MPa. Results suggest that this approach provides a controllable strategy for the design and fabrication of 3D interconnected porous biodegradable scaffolds for load-bearing tissue regeneration. (c) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 2013.