Fabrication and characterization of hydrophilized Polydioxanone scaffolds for tissue engineering applications

Porous polydioxanone (PDO)/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) scaffolds were fabricated by blending PDO with a small amount of PVA to improve the hydrophilicity and cell/tissue compatibility of the scaffolds for tissue engineering applications. PDO/PVA scaffolds with different PVA compositions up to 10 wt% were fabricated by a melt-molding particulate-leaching method (non-solvent method). The prepared scaffolds exhibited highly porous, uniform open-cellular pore structures. The PDO/PVA scaffolds with PVA compositions more than 5 % were easily wetted in cell culture medium. The hydrophilized PDO/PVA (5 wt%) scaffold showed better cell adhesion and growth than the control hydrophobic PDO scaffold. The PDO/PVA (5 wt%) scaffold also showed faster tissue infiltration into the scaffold than the PDO scaffold. It seems that 5 wt% addition of PVA to PDO to fabricate PDO/PVA scaffolds is enough for improving the hydrophilicity and cell/tissue compatibility of the scaffolds.