Designing porosity and topography of poly(1,3-trimethylene carbonate) scaffolds

Using phase separation micromolding (PSmicroM) we developed porous micro-patterned sheets from amorphous poly(1,3-trimethylene carbonate) (PTMC). The use of these PTMC sheets can be advantageous in tissue engineering applications requiring highly flexible constructs. Addition of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) in various amounts to PTMC casting solutions provides PTMC sheets with tailored porosity and pore sizes in the range 2-20 microm. The pore-forming effect of PEO during the phase separation process is evaluated and glucose transport measurements show that the pores are highly interconnected. Additionally, tailoring the micro-pattern design yields PTMC sheets with various surface topographies. Cell culturing experiments with C2C12 pre-myoblasts revealed that cell attachment and proliferation on these sheets is relatively high and that the micro-pattern topography induces a clearly defined cell organization.