Composite fibrous biomaterials for tissue engineering obtained using a supercritical CO2 antisolvent process

Several techniques have been proposed for producing porous structures or scaffolds for tissue engineering but, as yet, with no optimal solution. With regard to this topic, this paper focuses on the preparation of biocompatible nanometric filler-polymer composites organized in a network of fibers. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) or hydroxyapatite (HAP) nanopowders as the guest particles and poly(lactic acid) (L-PLA) or the blend poly(methylmethacrylate)/poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PMMA/PCL) as the polymer carrier were selected as model systems for this purpose. A supercritical antisolvent technique was used to produce the composites. In the process developed, the non-soluble particulate filler was suspended in a polymer solution, and both components were sprayed simultaneously into supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO(2)). Using this technique, polymeric matrices were loaded with similar to 10-20 wt.% of inorganic phase distributed throughout the composite. Two different hybrid materials were prepared: a PMMA/PCL + TiO2 system where either fibers or microparticles were prepared by varying the molecular weight of the used PMMA; and fibers in the case of L-PLA + HAP system. After further post-processing in a three-dimensional network, these nanofibers can potentially be used as scaffolds for tissue engineering. (C) 2008 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.