Allijn Iris, du Preez Nikola, Tasior Małgorzata, Bansal Ruchi, Stamatialis Dimitrios
Advanced Organ Bioengineering and Therapeutics, Faculty of Science and Technology, TechMed Center, University of Twente, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
Translational Liver Research, Department of Medical Cell Biophysics, Faculty of Science and Technology, TechMed Center, University of Twente, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
Membranes (Basel). 2022 Apr 23;12(5):453. doi: 10.3390/membranes12050453.
Common methods for fabricating membrane-based scaffolds for tissue engineering with (hydrophobic) polymers include thermal or liquid-phase inversion, sintering, particle leaching, electrospinning and stereolithography. However, these methods have limitations, such as low resolution and pore interconnectivity and may often require the application of high temperatures and/or toxic porogens, additives or solvents. In this work, we aim to overcome some of these limitations and propose a one-step method to produce large porous membrane-based scaffolds formed by air-water interfacial phase separation using water as a pore-forming agent and casting substrate. Here, we provide proof of concept using poly (trimethylene carbonate), a flexible and biocompatible hydrophobic polymer. Membrane-based scaffolds were prepared by dropwise addition of the polymer solution to water. Upon contact, rapid solvent-non-solvent phase separation took place on the air-water interface, after which the scaffold was cured by UV irradiation. We can tune and control the morphology of these scaffolds, including pore size and porosity, by changing various parameters, including polymer concentration, solvent type and temperature. Importantly, human hepatic stellate cells cultured on these membrane-based scaffolds remained viable and showed no signs of pro-inflammatory stress. These results indicate that the proposed air-water interfacial phase separation represents a versatile method for creating porous membrane-based scaffolds for tissue engineering applications.
用于用（疏水）聚合物制造组织工程用基于膜的支架的常见方法包括热致相分离或液相相分离、烧结、粒子沥滤、静电纺丝和立体光刻。然而，这些方法存在局限性，比如分辨率低和孔隙连通性差，并且可能常常需要施加高温和/或有毒的致孔剂、添加剂或溶剂。在这项工作中，我们旨在克服其中一些局限性，并提出一种一步法来制备由气-水界面相分离形成的大型多孔基于膜的支架，该方法使用水作为致孔剂和浇铸基底。在此，我们使用聚碳酸三亚甲基酯（一种柔性且具有生物相容性的疏水聚合物）来提供概念验证。通过将聚合物溶液逐滴加入水中来制备基于膜的支架。接触后，在气-水界面发生快速的溶剂-非溶剂相分离，之后通过紫外线照射使支架固化。我们可以通过改变各种参数，包括聚合物浓度、溶剂类型和温度，来调节和控制这些支架的形态，包括孔径和孔隙率。重要的是，在这些基于膜的支架上培养的人肝星状细胞保持存活且未显示出促炎应激的迹象。这些结果表明，所提出的气-水界面相分离代表了一种用于创建组织工程应用的多孔基于膜的支架的通用方法。
