Highly porous composites made up of biodegradable poly-epsilon-caprolactone (PCL) and stoichiometric hydroxyapatite (HA) particles have been developed as substrate for bone-tissue regeneration. The processing technique consists of phase inversion and particulate (salt crystals) leaching. Three different HA contents (13, 20 and 26 vol %) in PCL-based composite were considered in this study. Pore microstructure with fully interconnected network and pore sizes ranging around a few hundred of mum (macroporosity) was obtained as a result of salt particles removal by leaching process. Several microns (microporosity) porosity was also created through phase inversion of polymer solution. Total porosity up to 95% was achieved. Human marrow stromal cells (MSC) were seeded onto porous PCL-based composites for 1-5 weeks and cultured in osteogenic medium. MSC were able to adhere and grow on PCL-based substrates with a plateau at 3-4 weeks. However, the small effect of bioactive signals on the biological response evaluated in MSC cell culture suggests a prior role of topography on the biological response. Importantly, the presence of HA as a bioactive solid signal determines an increase of mechanical properties. On the overall, the results indicated that porous PCL-based composites are potential candidate for bone substitution with beneficial influence on structural characteristics by solid signal addition.
(c) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.