Tissue Engineering Polymeric Microcarriers with Macroporous Morphology and Bone-Bioactive Surface

PCL microspheres featuring a macroporous morphology and a bone-bioactive surface have been prepared. 'Camphene' was introduced to generate pores within the microsphere network. The pore size was variable from a few to tens to hundreds of mu m depending on the Camphene/PCL ratio. Macropores (with sizes >50 mu m) could be obtained with a Camphene/PCL ratio exceeding 6. The microsphere surface was further tailored with apatite mineral phase through solution-mediated precipitation, to endow the interface with bone bioactivity. Rat bone marrow stromal cells attached and spread actively on microspheres and populated well within their macropores. The developed microspheres may be potentially applicable as a cell delivery scaffold for bone tissue engineering.