Rapid prototyping by means of stereolithography using different types of photopolymers has gained increasing interest because cellular structures can be built at a high resolution with sub-lm feature sizes. Structures made with digital light processing and microstereolithography and rapid prototyping based on two-photon absorption photopolymerization techniques are presented. Soluble photopolymers were developed to substitute crosslinked photopolymers as mold materials and to extend the variety of materials which can be cast. With these molds, the processing of 'bio-inspired' ceramic composites with a controlled architecture from a macroscopic scale down to the nanometer range is possible. Another example is the development of biophotopolymers that are based on commercially available reactive diluents and modified gelatin for the fabrication of cellular bone replacement materials. Biocompatibility was investigated by seeding with osteoblast-like cells.

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Gelatin-based monomers were considered as suitable base component for the 3D structuring of potential bone replacement materials by stereolithographic techniques. Different methacrylate-based gelatin derivatives were prepared, whereas a polyethylene glycol modified derivative GP4M turned out to have the highest tolerance toward other monomers. These are essential as they allow the tuning of the photoreactivity and the mechanical properties. Cell culture experiments with osteoblast-and endothelial-like cells confirmed negligible cytotoxicity of these monomers. Finally, we were able to show the possibility of producing arbitrary cellular structures with these gelatin-containing formulations using stereolithography. V V C 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: [7078][7079][7080][7081][7082][7083][7084][7085][7086][7087][7088][7089] 2009

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