Preparation and release behavior of albumin-loaded PLGA scaffold by ice particle leaching method

A novel ice particle leaching method for fabrication of porous and biodegradable PLGA scaffold has been proposed for the application to tissue engineering. After uniform mixing of poly(L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) and bovine serum albumin-fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC-BSA), the FITC-BSA loaded scaffold was fabricated by adding various ratio of ice particle. The release profiles of FITC-BSA were examined using pH 7.4 PBS for 28 days at 37°C. The release amount was determined by fluorescence intensity by using the fluorescence spectrophotometer and the morphological change of the scaffolds was observed by scanning electron microscope. The release initial burst of BSA containing scaffolds was lower than that of simple dipping scaffolds resulting in constant release aspect. Although the BSA concentration increased, the initial burst was not increased. As a result of this study, it can be suggested that ice particle leaching method for the tissue engineered scaffold might be very useful and it is possible to impregnate with water soluble factors like cytokine. We suggest that ice particle leaching method may be useful to tissue engineered organ regeneration.