A poly(lactic acid)/calcium metaphosphate composite for bone tissue engineering

A new method to prepare PLA/CMP (poly-L-lactide calcium metaphosphate) composite,scaffolds as developed for effective bone tissue engineering. This novel sintering method is composed of pressing the mixture of PLA. CMP, and salt particles Lit 150MPa for 3min followed by heat treatment Lit 210 C for 30min. The scaffolds had a homogeneously interconnected porous structure without a skin layer, and they exhibited a narrower pore size distribution and higher mechanical strength in comparison with scaffolds made by a solvent casting method. The scaffolds were seeded by osteoblast, and cultured in vitro or implanted into nude mice subcutaneously for up to 5 weeks. The number of cells attached to and proliferated on the scaffolds Lit both in vitro and in vivo was in the order of. PLA by novel sintering < PLA,CMP by solvent casting PLA CMP by novel sintering, In addition. the alkaline phosphatase activity of and calcium deposition in the scaffolds explanted from mice were enhanced Significantly for the scaffolds by novel sintering compared to them by solvent casting. The in vitro results agreed well with the in vivo data. Such a superior characteristic of the novel sintering method should have resulted from the fact that the CMP particles could contact directly with cells/tissues to stimulate the cell proliferation and osteogenic differentiation. while the (CMP particles should lie coated by polymers and hindered to interact with cells/tissues in the case of a solvent casting method. As the novel sintering method does not use my solvents it offers another advantage to avoid problems associated with solvent residue, (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.