Micromachining of Polyurethane Membranes for Tissue Engineering Applications.

Engineered tissue barrier models offer alternatives in toxicology and disease research. To mimic barrier-tissue microenvironment, a porous membrane that can approach the stiffness of physiological basement membranes is required. While several biocompatible membranes with micrometer range thickness (10 μm) and a stiffness less than polystyrene (3 GPa) or polyethylene (PET, 2 GPa), have been developed, there has been little effort to optimize the process to enable rapid and reproducible pore production in these membranes.