Self-Rolled Porous Hollow Tubes Made up of Biodegradable Polymers

A tubular highly porous scaffold of polylactide (PLA) and poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL) is fabricated by self-rolling of a 2D fibrous bilayer of PLA and PCL in water without use of any classical thermo-/pH-responsive polymers. The self-rolling and diameter of the tube are dependent upon the bilayer thickness and temperature. A 75 µm thick 2D bilayer (PLA = 25 µm; PCL = 50 µm) rolls to a hollow tube of diameter around 0.41 mm with multilayered wall at 40 °C within 5 min. The tubes keep their form and size in water at all temperatures once they are formed. The interesting properties of the hollow tubes, that is, permeation of gases through the walls and flow of water without leakage under tested conditions in combination with good mechanical stability, use of only biodegradable polymers, and easy and reproducible fabrication method, allow them to be promising candidates for future studies as scaffolds for tissue engineering.