Kim, Su Hee Jung, Youngmee Kim, Soo Hyun 2024-01-20T13:00:54Z 2024-01-20T13:00:54Z 2021-09-01 2013-03 1937-3384 https://pubs.kist.re.kr/handle/201004/128316 Supercritical fluids are used in various industrial fields, such as the food and medical industries, because they have beneficial physical and chemical properties and are also nonflammable and inexpensive. In particular, supercritical carbon dioxide (ScCO2) is attractive due to its mild critical temperature, pressure values, and nontoxicity. Poly(L-lactide-co-epsilon-caprolactone) (PLCL), which is a biocompatible, biodegradable, and very elastic polymer, has been used in cartilage tissue engineering. However, organic solvents, such as chloroform or dichloromethane, are usually used for the fabrication of a PLCL scaffold through conventional methods. This leads to a cytotoxic effect and long processing time for removing solvents. To alleviate these problems, supercritical fluid processing is introduced here. In this study, we fabricated a mechano-active PLCL scaffold by supercritical fluid processing for cartilage tissue engineering, and we compared it with a scaffold made by a conventional solvent-casting method in terms of physical and biological performance. Also, to examine the optimum condition for preparing scaffolds with ScCO2, we investigated the effects of pressure, temperature, and the depressurization rate on PLCL foaming. The PLCL scaffolds produced by supercritical fluid processing had a homogeneously interconnected porous structure, and they exhibited a narrow pore size distribution. Also, there was no cytotoxicity of the scaffolds made with ScCO2 compared to the scaffolds made by the solvent-pressing method. The scaffolds were seeded with chondrocytes, and they were subcutaneously implanted into nude mice for up to 4 weeks. In vivo accumulation of extracellular matrix of cell-scaffold constructs demonstrated that the PLCL scaffold made with ScCO2 formed a mature and well-developed cartilaginous tissue compared to the PLCL scaffold formed by solvent pressing. Consequently, these results indicated that the PLCL scaffolds made by supercritical fluid processing offer well-interconnected and nontoxic substrates for cell growth, avoiding problems associated with a solvent residue. This suggests that these elastic PLCL scaffolds formed by supercritical fluid processing could be used for cartilage tissue engineering. English MARY ANN LIEBERT, INC BIODEGRADABLE POLY(L-LACTIDE-CO-EPSILON-CAPROLACTONE) PLCL SCAFFOLDS CARBON-DIOXIDE CO2 REGENERATION BIOMATERIALS FABRICATION DELIVERY GROWTH A Biocompatible Tissue Scaffold Produced by Supercritical Fluid Processing for Cartilage Tissue Engineering Article 10.1089/ten.tec.2012.0170 1 TISSUE ENGINEERING PART C-METHODS, v.19, no.3, pp.181 - 188 TISSUE ENGINEERING PART C-METHODS 19 3 181 188 scie scopus 000314179900001 2-s2.0-84873805047 Cell & Tissue Engineering Cell Biology Engineering, Biomedical Materials Science, Biomaterials Cell Biology Engineering Materials Science Article BIODEGRADABLE POLY(L-LACTIDE-CO-EPSILON-CAPROLACTONE) PLCL SCAFFOLDS CARBON-DIOXIDE CO2 REGENERATION BIOMATERIALS FABRICATION DELIVERY GROWTH tissue engineering