Fabrication of thermoplastic polyurethane tissue engineering scaffold by combining microcellular injection molding and particle leaching

Microcellular injection molding, a process capable of mass-producing complex plastic parts, and particle leaching methods were combined to fabricate porous thermoplastic polyurethane tissue engineering scaffolds. Water soluble polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) and sodium chloride (NaCl) were used as porogens to improve the porosity and interconnectivity as well as the hydrophilicity of the scaffolds. It was found in the study that the microcellular injection molding process was effective at producing high pore density and porosity. The addition of PVOH decreased the pore diameter and increased the pore density. Furthermore, scaffolds with NaCl and PVOH porogens showed more interconnected pores. The 3T3 fibroblast cell culture was used to confirm the biocompatibility of the scaffolds. Residual PVOH content after leaching increased the hydrophilicity of the scaffolds and further improved cell adhesion and proliferation. The resulting scaffolds offer an alternative scalable tissue scaffold fabrication method for soft tissue scaffold production.