Architecture and properties of anisotropic polymer composite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering.

Bone is a complex porous composite structure with specific characteristics such as viscoelasticity and anisotropy, both in morphology and mechanical properties. Bone defects are regularly filled with artificial tissue grafts, which should ideally have properties similar to those of natural bone. Open cell composite foams made of bioresorbable poly(L-lactic acid) (PLA) and ceramic fillers, hydroxyapatite (HA) or beta-tricalcium phosphate (beta-TCP), were processed by supercritical CO2 foaming.