Morphological evaluation of in situ forming polymeric scaffold for tissue engineering applications

Porosity is a major factor for cell migration, growth and tissue regeneration in scaffolds. There are many Solid scaffolds with porous structure, but these scaffolds are usually pre-formed and then must be implanted. The goal of this work is the fabrication of an injectable scaffold that formed in situ via phase inversion and exhibits the porous matrix. In this injectable system the biodegradable polymer poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid)is dissolved in a biocompatible and water-miscible solvent and porogens are added into polymer solution. Final polymer solution is injected into a buffer media, where it precipitated by phase inversion to form a solid scaffold as the N-methyl-2-pyrolidone diffused into the phosphate-buffered saline and allowed the porogens to be leached out of the scaffold to form a porous structure.