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Updated: May 17, 2026
A Facile and Eco-friendly Route to Fabricate Poly(Lactic Acid) Scaffolds with Graded Pore Size
Published on: October 17, 2016
Investigation of microstructure, mechanical properties and cellular viability of poly(L-lactic acid) tissue
Sara Molladavoodi1, Maud Gorbet, John Medley
1Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, Canada N2L 3G1. s2mollad@uwaterloo.ca
Abstract:
Two thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) methods have been used to fabricate biodegradable poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) tissue engineering scaffolds each with fibrous (F-TIPS) and porous (P-TIPS) microstructures. Three levels of PLLA concentration (3, 5 and 7 wt%) were employed in each fabrication method and both wet and dry specimens were studied. Simple compression testing revealed that an elastic-plastic representation of the mechanical behavior was possible for all specimens. Both elastic and plastic moduli were higher for the P-TIPS, for higher polymer concentration, and might be somewhat higher for dry as opposed to wet specimens. For F-TIPS specimens, permanent deformation occurred successively during cyclic deformation but a "memory effect" simplified the behavior. Although F-TIPS microstructure better resembled the natural extracellular matrix, human osteosarcoma fibroblast cells showed more consistent viability in the P-TIPS scaffolds under our unloaded test protocols. Biodegradation in cell culture medium resulted in a decreased elastic moduli for F-TIPS specimens. Information presented regarding the microstructure, mechanical properties and cell viability of these PLLA scaffolds that should help reduce the number of iterations involved in developing tissue engineering products.
