Fabrication of PLGA microvessel scaffolds with circular microchannels using soft lithography

Abstract

A simple micromolding method for fabricating PLGA (poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)) microstructures made up of microchannels with a circular cross-section is presented. The thermal reflow technique is adopted to fabricate the semi-cylindrical photoresist master. The PLGA solution is prepared by dissolving PLGA polymer in acetone and then casting the solution onto the semi-cylindrical photoresist master to produce PLGA microstructures. Two PLGA membranes are bonded together to form microstructures consisting of circular microchannels. A microvessel scaffold suitable for tissue engineering was fabricated using the proposed method, and bovine endothelial cells were cultured into the scaffold by semi-dynamic seeding. The cell stain Calcein-AM was used to overcome the problem of the PLGA scaffolds becoming opaque, which in the past had made it difficult to effectively monitor the progress of cell seeding.

Fabrication of orderly nanostructured PLGA scaffolds using anodic aluminum oxide templates

“…Nanobiomaterial is one of the crucial fields in the study of nanobiotechnology. The major applications of nanobiomaterial are the fabrication of scaffolds for tissue engineering (Luis et al, 2007;Wang et al, 2007;Dalby et al, 2004) and carriers for drug delivery (Sonaje et al, 2007;Mittal et al, 2007;Ryu et al, 2007). The former refers to the fabrication of nanostructured patterns on a biomaterial through chemical processes.…”

Hagen–Poiseuille Flow in Semi-Elliptic Microchannels

“…In addition to the classical circular cross sections, microfabrication also produces channels with noncircular cross sections, such as rectangular, elliptic, and trapezoidal which have wide practical applications in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) [3,4]. The third most common microchannel geometry may be the semicircular profile, which occurs naturally in hard micromachining with isotropic etching [4][5][6].…”

Fabrication of Pillared PLGA Microvessel Scaffold Using Femtosecond Laser Ablation

“…To solve the dead volume problem, the same group developed microvessel scaffolds with circular microchannels on both polydimethylsiloxane and PLGA substrates using the photoresist melting approach. 11,12 Borenstein et al have recently reported on the fabrication of another circular cross-sectional microvascular scaffold structure based on the polystyrene substrate. Successful seeding of primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells was observed.…”

“…This occurs due to absorption of the cultivation medium and the following hydrolysis, and makes it difficult to use optical microscopy to monitor the progress of cell seeding. 12 In addition, dynamic seeding can be carried out using a peristalsis pump to give the seeded cells properties similar to those of the endothelial cells of a real capillary. This is the commonly used cell culture method.…”