Abstracts Posters SICOT-SOF meeting Gothenburg 2010 _2_

Poster
Topic: Cartilage Repair
Abstract number: 26763
DEVELOPMENT OF A STRUCTURALLY GRADED POLYCAPROLACTONE (SG-
PCL) SCAFFOLDS FOR HYALINE CARTILAGE REPAIR
Bjørn B CHRISTENSEN 1 , Casper B FOLDAGER 1 , Dang LE 2 , Cody BÜNGER 1 , Jens
VINGE 1 , Martin LIND 1
1 2
Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus (DENMARK), Aarhus University, Ny
Munkegade, Aarhus (DENMARK),
INTRODUCTION: Articular cartilage defects have shown a limited potential to heal,
which can lead to pain, swelling, and early osteoarthritis. The aim of this study is to
develop a novel SG-PCL scaffold for hyaline cartilage repair. METHODS: A novel
SG-PCL scaffold was constructed using rapid prototyping. PCL fibers (MW 50 kDa)
with a diameter of 120 µm were plotted producing a 3D web. The scaffold was
subsequently submerged into a mixture of dioxane, PCL and water, and lyophilized
at -32°C, creating an extremely porous graded struc ture. By shifting the
water/dioxane ratio 16 scaffolds with different pore sizes were made. Using scanning
electron microscopy, two scaffolds were selected. The two scaffolds were then
constructed with either 25kDa or 50kDa graded structure giving a total of four
different scaffold. They were cultured with human chondrocytes and the viability was
analyzed using confocal microscopy after 1, 3 and 6 days. The scaffolds were rated
based on cell migration, cell shape and distribution of viable cells. RESULTS: The
scaffolds contained macro-, micro-, and nano-pores. A large difference in
investigated parameters was observed and a water-dioxane ratio of 0.0415 provided
the most viable environment for chondrocytes according to the above-mentioned
criteria. CONCLUSION: We successfully constructed a SG-PCL scaffold that can be
used in future in vivo experiments, and has the potential of subsequent
functionalization with nano particles and growth- and differentiation factors
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