Novel bioresorbable poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) and PLGA/Bioglass® composite tubular foam scaffolds for tissue engineering applications

Polylactide-co-glycolide (PLGA) and PLGA/Bioglass(R) foams of tubular shape were assessed for their use as soft-tissue engineering scaffolds. The Bioglass(R) content was I wt%. Porous membranes were fabricated via a thermally induced phase separation process, from which tubes of 3 mm diameter, 20 mm length and a nominal wall thickness of 1.5 mm were produced. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that the structure of the tubular foams consisted of radially oriented and highly interconnected pores with a large size distribution (50-300 mum). Foams with Bioglass(R) inclusions showed similarly well-defined tubular and interconnected pore morphology. Cell culture studies using mouse fibroblast (L929) cells were conducted to assess the biocompatibility of the scaffolds in vitro. Preconditioned medium, produced by incubating the foams with 5% w/v cell culture medium for 24 hours at 37degreesC, was shown to have a significant (p<0.0001; impaired t-test) inhibitory effect on fibroblast proliferation compared with control medium. This may be beneficial as reduced fibroblast infiltration/proliferation response to a bioactive material might prevent fibroblast overgrowth, enabling other cell types, (e.g. endothelial cells) to migrate into the scaffold. The PLGA and PLGA/Bioglass(R) tubular foams developed here are candidate materials for soft-tissue engineering scaffolds, holding promise for the regeneration of tissues requiring a tubular shape scaffold.