Mechano-active scaffold design based on microporous poly(L-lactide-co-epsilon-caprolactone) for articular cartilage tissue engineering: dependence of porosity on compression force-applied mechanical behaviors.

An essential component of functional articular cartilage tissue engineering is a mechano-active scaffold, which responds to applied compression stress and causes little permanent deformation. As the first paper of a series on mechano-active scaffold-based cartilage tissue engineering, this study focused on mechanical responses to various modes of loading of compression forces and subsequent selection of mechano-active scaffolds from the biomechanical viewpoint. Scaffolds made of elastomeric microporous poly(L-lactide-co-epsilon-caprolactone) (PLCL) with open-cell structured pores (300 approximately 500 microm) and with different porosities ranging from 71 to 86% were used.

Mechano-active scaffold design of small-diameter artificial graft made of electrospun segmented polyurethane fabrics.

To fabricate a "mechano-active" tubular scaffold of nonwoven mesh-type small-diameter artificial graft made of the synthetic durable elastomer, segmented polyurethane, the fabrication technique of electrospinning on a mandrel under a high rotation speed and transverse movement was used. Emphasis was placed on how the rotation speed of the mandrel and the fusion or welding states of fibers at contact points affect the compliance (ease of intraluminal pressure-dependent circumferential inflation) and Young's modulus determined by uniaxial stretching in the longitudinal and circumferential directions. The results showed that a high rotation speed is attributed to exhibit isotropic mechanical properties in the entire range of applied strain but reduces the compliance, and a high fusion state, which is produced using a mixed solvent with a high content of high-boiling-point solvent, reduces the compliance but is expected to exhibit high durability in a continuously loaded pulsatile stress field in an arterial circulatory system.