Fabrication of Dual-pore Scaffolds Using a Combination of Wire-Networked Molding （WNM） and Non-solvent Induced Phase Separation （NIPS） Techniques

In this study, to fabricate dual-pore scaffolds with interconnected pores, Non-solvent Induced Phase Separation （NIPS） and Wire-Network Molding （WNM） techniques were combined. First, a mold with uniform slits was prepared, and needles were inserted into the mold. Subsequently, polycaprolactone （PCL） pellets were dissolved in tetrahydrofuran （THF） at a specified ratio. The slurry was mixed using hot plate stirrer at 1200 rpm for 24 hours at 40 ~C. The PCL slurry was subsequently injected into the mold. Thereafter, to exchange the THF （solvent） with the ethanol （non-solvent）, the mold was soaked in an ethanol bath. After removing the mold from the ethanol bath, the needles were removed from the mold. Consequently, dual-pore scaffold with interconnected pores was obtained. The surface morphology of the fabricated scaffolds were observed using Scanning Electron Microscope （SEM）. Moreover, cell culture experiments were performed using the CCK-8 assay, and the characteristics of cells grown on the dual-pore scaffolds were assessed and were compared with the NIPS-based 3D plotting scaffold.