Development of poly(vinyl alcohol) porous scaffold with high strength and well ciprofloxacin release efficiency

Hydrophilic porous polymer scaffolds have shown great application in drug controlled release, while their mechanical properties and release efficiency still need further improvement. In the current study, the porous scaffolds of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) prepared by quenching in liquid nitrogen and freeze drying method from different original concentration aqueous solutions were fabricated. Among different PVA scaffolds, the scaffold stemming from 18wt.% PVA aqueous solution exhibited the best mechanical properties, 10.5 and 1.54MPa tensile strengths for the dry and hydrogel states respectively. The inner morphology of such PVA scaffold was unidirectional honeycomb-like structure with average microchannel section of 0.5μm, and the scaffold showed porosity of 71% and rather low ciprofloxacin (Cip) release efficiency of 54.5%. Then poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) was incorporated to enhance the Cip release efficiency. The release efficiency reached 89.3% after introducing 10wt.% PEG, and the mechanical properties of scaffold decreased slightly. Various characterization methods demonstrated that, adding PEG could help to enlarge the microchannel, create extra holes on the channel walls, weaken the interaction between PVA chains and Cip, and miniaturize the crystal size of Cip. All these effects benefit the dissolution and diffusion of Cip from scaffold, increasing its release capability. Moreover, based on biocompatible material composition, PVA/PEG scaffold is a non-cytotoxicity and have been verified that it can promote cell growth. And PVA/PEG scaffolds loaded with Cip can completely inhibit the growth of microorganism because of Cip sustaining release. The PVA scaffold would have a good potential application in tissue engineering, demanding high strength and well drug release capability.