Fabrication of tubular porous PLGA scaffold by emulsion freeze-drying method

A novel emulsion freeze-drying method for fabrication of tubular porous poly(L-lactide-co-glycolide) (75:25 by mole ratio of lactide to glycolide, PLGA) scaffold has been proposed for the application to tissue engineering. Tubular PLGA scaffolds obtained were characterized by mercury porosimetry, scanning electron microscopy and image analysis. PLGA scaffolds with porosity above 90%, medium pore size ranging from 10 to 30 μm with larger pore diameters greater than 100 μn, and specific pore area in the range of 27 to 31 (m²/g) were manufactured by varying processing parameters as PLGA concentration and water volume fraction. It was observed that PLGA scaffolds were highly porous with good interconnections between pores for allowing cell adhesion and growth. It was suggested that the mechanism of the formation of pore may be related to emulsion unstability rather than emulsion stability. It might be concluded that this novel scaffolds may be applicable for tubular organ structures to facilitate tissue regeneration or repair in tissue engineering.