Preparation of Highly Porous Scaffolds with Controllable Pore Size from Microbial Polyesters

Abstract

Microbial polyesters saw limited use in the field of tissue engineering, even though the biocompatibility of these polymers makes them ideal candidates for this role. The primary factor that hinders the proliferation of microbial polyesters in this market is that their processing with conventional techniques, such as electrospinning or 3D printing, is challenging. However, the full potential of these biopolymers could still be utilized by applying unconventional manufacturing methods, such as those based on the concept of salt leaching. An implementation of this concept facilitates the production of scaffolds that simultaneously have high porosity and excellent permeability. Moreover, the average pore size can also be varied in the range from 50 to 400 µm, which was reported to be optimal for the cultivation of eucaryotic cell cultures. By adjusting the pore size, the scaffold can be tailored to the eucaryotic cells the tissue consists of. Furthermore, we have developed an entirely new computational method for the approximation of the pore size distribution of the scaffolds. The method relies on 3D data reconstructed by the software of a digital optical microscope and also facilitates the modeling of the average pore size of scaffolds. Thus, besides the control of the pore size, our method enables its prediction as well.