Abstract
The apparent inability of a single biomaterial to meet all the requirements for tissue engineering scaffolds has led to continual research in novel engineered biomaterials. One method to provide new materials and fine-tune their properties is via mixing materials. In this study, a biodegradable powder blend of poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL), polyglycolide (PGA), and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) was prepared and three-dimensional interconnected porous PCL/PGA scaffolds were fabricated by combining cryomilling and compression molding/polymer leaching techniques. The resultant porous scaffolds exhibited co-continuous morphologies with similar to 50% porosity. Mean pore sizes of 24 and 56 mu m were achieved by varying milling time. The scaffolds displayed high mechanical properties and water uptake, in addition to a remarkably fast degradation rate. The results demonstrate the potential of this fabrication approach to obtain PCL/PGA blend scaffolds with interconnected porosity. In general, these results provide significant insight into an approach that will lead to the development of new composites and blends in scaffold manufacturing. (C) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
