Preparation and Characterization of Porous Scaffolds with Favourable Interpore Connectivity

The pore interconnectivity is a key factor for the application of porous bioceramics as bone tissue engineering scaffolds.Packed wax spheres were treated with dimethyl benzene and acted as the porogen for the preparation of porous ceramic scaffolds,in order to increase the inter-sphere connectivity.The morphology,porosity, shrinkage,and the compressive strength of the obtained ceramic scaffolds were analyzed.The cell compatibility of the scaffolds was evaluated with Sprague-Dawley(SD) osteoblasts.The results showed that the pore interconnectivity and volumetric porosity were significantly increased by the dimethyl benzene treatment.Scaffolds with different porosities had similar shrinkage.Osteoblasts migrated deeply into the center of the porous ceramic scaffold through the interconnected pores and got normal activity.Porous scaffolds with better interpore connectivity could provid more space for the proliferation of osteoblasts.