Modifying the Pores of an Inverse Opal Scaffold With Chitosan Microstructures for Truly Three-Dimensional Cell Culture

✍ Scribed by Yu Zhang; Sung-Wook Choi; Younan Xia

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2012
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 876 KB
• Volume: 33
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1022-1336
• DOI: 10.1002/marc.201100695

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Inverse opal scaffolds have recently emerged as a novel class of scaffolds with uniform and controllable pore sizes for tissue engineering to provide better nutrient transport, a uniform cell distribution, and an adjustable microenvironment for cell differentiation. However, when the pore size of the scaffold is much larger than the dimension of a cell, the cell actually encounters a local 2D environment and the void space associated with the pore can not be efficiently utilized. Here, we demonstrate that a truly 3D microenvironment can be created inside a pore by further functionalizing the as‐prepared inverse opal scaffold with a second polymer by freeze‐drying. The resultant inverse opal scaffold with hierarchically structured pores can enhance both cell proliferation and tissue infiltration.