Biofabrication of Gelatin Tissue Scaffolds with Uniform Pore Size via Microbubble Assembly

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BAYRAM C., Jiang X., Gultekinoglu M., ÖZTÜRK Ş., ULUBAYRAM K., Edirisinghe M.

MACROMOLECULAR MATERIALS AND ENGINEERING, cilt.304, sa.11, 2019 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 304 Sayı: 11
  • Basım Tarihi: 2019
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1002/mame.201900394
  • Dergi Adı: MACROMOLECULAR MATERIALS AND ENGINEERING
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: biofabrication, gelatin, microbubbles, tissue scaffold, T-JUNCTION, MICROFLUIDIC DEVICES, CELL, POROSITY, INTERCONNECTIVITY, BIOMATERIALS
  • Hacettepe Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

The control of pore size and uniform porosity remains as an important challenge in gelatin scaffolds. The precise control in building blocks of tissue scaffolds without any additional porogen is possible with costly equipment and techniques, though some pre-requirements for polymeric material, such as photo-polymerizability or sintering ability, may be needed prior to construction. Herein, a method for the fabrication of gelatin scaffolds with homogenous porosity using simple T-junction microfluidics is described. The size of the microbubbles is precisely controlled with 5% deviation from the average. Porous gelatin scaffolds are obtained by building-up the monodispersed microbubbles in dilute cross-linker solutions. The effect of cross-linker density on pore diameter is also investigated. After cross-linking, pore size of the resultant five scaffold groups are precisely controlled as 135 +/- 11, 193 +/- 11, 216 +/- 9, 231 +/- 5, and 250 +/- 12 mu m. Porosity ratios above 65% are achieved in every sample group. According to the cell culture experiments, structures support high cell adhesion, viability, and migration through the porous network via interconnectivity. This study offers a practical and economical approach for the preparation of porous gelatin scaffolds with homogenous porosity which can be utilized in diverse tissue engineering applications.