Novel Polymeric Scaffolds Using Protein Microbubbles as Porogen and Growth Factor Carriers
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Date
2010Author
Nair, Ashwin
Thevenot, Paul Todd
Dey, Jagannath
Shen, Jinhui
Sun, Man-Wu
Yang, Jian
Tang, Liping
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**Please note that the full text is embargoed** ABSTRACT: Polymeric tissue engineering scaffolds prepared by conventional techniques like salt leaching and phase separation are greatly limited by their poor biomolecule-delivery abilities. Conventional methods of incorporation of
various growth factors, proteins, and=or peptides on or in scaffold materials via different crosslinking and
conjugation techniques are often tedious and may affect scaffold’s physical, chemical, and mechanical properties.
To overcome such deficiencies, a novel two-step porous scaffold fabrication procedure has been created in which
bovine serum albumin microbubbles (henceforth MB) were used as porogen and growth factor carriers. Polymer
solution mixed with MB was phase separated and then lyophilized to create porous scaffold. MB scaffold
triggered substantially lesser inflammatory responses than salt-leached and conventional phase-separated
scaffolds in vivo. Most importantly, the same technique was used to produce insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1)–
eluting porous scaffolds, simply by incorporating IGF-1–loaded MB (MB-IGF-1) with polymer solution before
phase separation. In vitro such MB-IGF-1 scaffolds were able to promote cell growth to a much greater extent
than scaffold soaked in IGF-1, confirming the bioactivity of the released IGF-1. Further, such MB-IGF-1 scaffolds
elicited IGF-1–specific collagen production in the surrounding tissue in vivo. This novel growth factor–eluting
scaffold fabrication procedure can be used to deliver a range of single or combination of bioactive biomolecules
to substantially promote cell growth and function in degradable scaffold.