Fabrication and characterization of porous PHBV scaffolds for tissue engineering

Porous scaffolds of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) were elaborated by three different techniques: salt leaching (SL), emulsion solvent evaporation (ESE) and temperature induced phase separation (TIPS). For SL partially fused sieved grains of sodium chloride (106-355 μm) were used as porogen. Emulsions, prepared from a solution of PHBV in chloroform allow getting flexible films; the content of surfactant may be used to control the pore size. The pore size of the TIPS scaffolds decreased on increasing the cooling rate and the morphology of the interconnected structure could be controlled by changing the temperature gradient. Finally, chemical changes associated to the enhancement of hydrophilic behaviour of the scaffolds after alkaline and enzymatic hydrolysis as well as after sterilization by γ irradiation are presented.