Thermoforming techniques for manufacturing porous scaffolds for application in 3D cell cultivation

Justyna Borowiec; Jörg Hampl; Michael Gebinoga; Tarek Elsarnagawy; Yasser A Elnakady; Hassan Fouad; Fahd Almajhadi; Uta Fernekorn; Frank Weise; Sukhdeep Singh; Dief Elsarnagawy; Andreas Schober

doi:10.1016/j.msec.2015.01.002

Thermoforming techniques for manufacturing porous scaffolds for application in 3D cell cultivation

Mater Sci Eng C Mater Biol Appl. 2015 Apr:49:509-516. doi: 10.1016/j.msec.2015.01.002. Epub 2015 Jan 6.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Ilmenau University of Technology, Nano-Biosystem Technology Department, Gustav-Kirchhoff-Straße 7, 98693 Ilmenau, Germany. Electronic address: justyna.borowiec@tu-ilmenau.de.
² Ilmenau University of Technology, Nano-Biosystem Technology Department, Gustav-Kirchhoff-Straße 7, 98693 Ilmenau, Germany. Electronic address: joerg.hampl@tu-ilmenau.de.
³ Ilmenau University of Technology, Nano-Biosystem Technology Department, Gustav-Kirchhoff-Straße 7, 98693 Ilmenau, Germany. Electronic address: michael.gebinoga@tu-ilmenau.de.
⁴ Prince Sultan University, Prince Salman Research & Translation Center, College of Engineering, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: telsarnagawy@hotmail.com.
⁵ King Saud University, College of Science, Zoology Department, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: yelnakady@ksu.edu.sa.
⁶ Helwan University, Biomedical Engineering Department, Helwan, Egypt. Electronic address: menhfef@ksu.edu.sa.
⁷ King Saud University, College of Science, Department of Botany and Microbiology, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: majhdi@ksu.edu.sa.
⁸ Ilmenau University of Technology, Nano-Biosystem Technology Department, Gustav-Kirchhoff-Straße 7, 98693 Ilmenau, Germany. Electronic address: uta.fernekorn@tu-ilmenau.de.
⁹ Ilmenau University of Technology, Nano-Biosystem Technology Department, Gustav-Kirchhoff-Straße 7, 98693 Ilmenau, Germany. Electronic address: frank.weise@tu-ilmenau.de.
¹⁰ Ilmenau University of Technology, Nano-Biosystem Technology Department, Gustav-Kirchhoff-Straße 7, 98693 Ilmenau, Germany. Electronic address: sukhdeep.singh@tu-ilmenau.de.
¹¹ Academy for Scientific Research & Technology, Cairo, Egypt. Electronic address: Delsarnagawy@psu.edu.sa.
¹² Ilmenau University of Technology, Nano-Biosystem Technology Department, Gustav-Kirchhoff-Straße 7, 98693 Ilmenau, Germany. Electronic address: andreas.schober@tu-ilmenau.de.

PMID: 25686978
DOI: 10.1016/j.msec.2015.01.002

Abstract

Within the scientific community, there is an increasing demand to apply advanced cell cultivation substrates with increased physiological functionalities for studying spatially defined cellular interactions. Porous polymeric scaffolds are utilized for mimicking an organ-like structure or engineering complex tissues and have become a key element for three-dimensional (3D) cell cultivation in the meantime. As a consequence, efficient 3D scaffold fabrication methods play an important role in modern biotechnology. Here, we present a novel thermoforming procedure for manufacturing porous 3D scaffolds from permeable materials. We address the issue of precise thermoforming of porous polymer foils by using multilayer polymer thermoforming technology. This technology offers a new method for structuring porous polymer foils that are otherwise available for non-porous polymers only. We successfully manufactured 3D scaffolds from solvent casted and phase separated polylactic acid (PLA) foils and investigated their biocompatibility and basic cellular performance. The HepG2 cell culture in PLA scaffold has shown enhanced albumin secretion rate in comparison to a previously reported polycarbonate based scaffold with similar geometry.

Keywords: 3D; Cell culture; Hepatocyte; Polylactic acid (PLA); Polymer scaffold.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Cell Line
Materials Testing
Mice
Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
Porosity*
Tissue Scaffolds*