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Free-form fabrication and micro-CT characterization of poly-/spl epsiv/-caprolactone tissue scaffolds
Journal article

Free-form fabrication and micro-CT characterization of poly-/spl epsiv/-caprolactone tissue scaffolds

A.L Darling and Wei Sun
IEEE engineering in medicine and biology magazine, v 24(1)
Jan 2005
PMID: 15709540

Abstract

Biodegradable materials Fabrication Image reconstruction Manufacturing Microarchitecture Performance analysis Polymers Shape control Three dimensional displays Tissue engineering
One of the dominant approaches to tissue engineering is the seeding of biodegradable, biocompatible polymer scaffolds with progenitor cells prior to three-dimensional (3-D) culture or implantation. While the macroarchitecture of these scaffolds is important for anatomic fit, the microarchitecture has direct effects upon the ability of cells to attach, migrate, and thrive. Free-form fabrication - specifically, fused deposition - allows for simultaneous control of scaffold shape and microarchitectural characteristics. Microtomographic (micro-CT) scanners enable high-speed 3-D characterization of the salient features of these polymer scaffolds. A micro-CT scan followed by a 3-D reconstruction of serial image sections can determine porosity, pore size, pore interconnectivity, strut size, and 3-D microarchitecture. In this study, a number of polymer samples with different microarchitectures were manufactured through fused deposition free-form fabrication and subsequently characterized through micro-CT analysis. A desktop micro-CT scanner was used to examine each sample at approximately 19.1 μm resolution. Three-dimensional reconstruction and an analysis of core regions of each sample were performed. The results indicate that scaffolds of a specific shape may be constructed with interconnected pores of desired size.

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Web of Science research areas
Engineering, Biomedical
Medical Informatics
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