Effect of osteoblastic culture conditions on the structure of poly(DL-lactic-co-glycolic acid) foam scaffolds

Poly(DL-lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) foams are an osteoconductive support that holds promise for the development of bone tissue in vitro and implantation into orthopedic defects. Because it is desirable that foams maintain their shape and size, we examined a variety of foams cultured in vitro with osteoblastic cells. Foams were prepared with different porosities and pore sizes by the method of solvent casting/porogen leaching using 80, 85, and 90 wt% NaCl sieved with particle sizes of 150-300 and 300-500 mu m and characterized by mercury intrusion porosimetry. Foams seeded with cells were found to have volumes after 7 days in static culture that decreased with increasing porosity: the least porous exhibited no change in volume while the most porous foams decreased by 39 +/- 10%. In addition, a correlation was observed between decreasing foam volume after 7 days in culture and decreasing internal surface area of the foams prior to seeding. Furthermore, foams prepared with the 300-500 mu m porogen had lower porosities, greater mean wall thicknesses between adjacent pores, and larger volumes after 7 days in culture than those prepared with the smaller porogen. Two culture conditions for maintaining cells, static and agitated (in a rotary vessel), were found to have similar influences on foam size, cell density, and osteoblastic function for 7 and 14 days in culture. Finally, we examined unseeded foams in aqueous solutions of pH 3.0, 5.0, and 7.4 and found no significant decrease in foam size with degradation. This study demonstrates that adherent osteoblastic cells may collapse very porous PLGA foams prepared by solvent casting/particulate leaching: a potentially undesirable property for repair of orthopedic defects.