Polylactide biodegradable scaffolds for tissue engineering applications phase separation-based techniques

2011

One of the most reliable techniques for the preparation of biodegradable scaffoldssuitable for tissue engineering applications (e.g. regeneration of wounded/damagedtissues) is based on liquid/liquid phase separation of ternary solvent/antisolvent/polymersolutions. In particular, two phase separation protocols are examined here: ThermallyInduced Phase Separation (TIPS) and Diffusion Induces Phase Separation (DIPS). According to the former protocol, a thermodynamically stable polymeric ternarysolution is brought below its metastability/instability point (spinodal/binodal curve) byquench in a cooling medium: under opportune conditions, a foam-like structure is formedby nucleation and 3-D growt…