Tissue loss is one of the most common problems in human
healthcare. Tissue Engineering has been defined as "The
use of naturally occurring and/or synthetic materials
in conjunction with cells to create biologic substitutes
to serve as functional tissue replacements."
In the late 1980’s researchers developed porous PGA
polymer scaffolds that enabled scientists to grow thick
(1 mm and greater) layers of tissue. Since then, a number
of functional tissue equivalents have been grown in
the laboratory including skin, cartilage, tendon, bone,
blood vessels, bowel, bladder and liver. Scaffolds fabricated
from PGA have proven useful for growing three-dimensional
tissue equivalents in vitro. Small-diameter fibers of
PGA or PLA are randomly entangled to form a strong,
flexible and porous three-dimensional matrix.
The scaffold allows cells to attach and grow in a three
dimensional space while nutrient flow is maintained
throughout the matrix.
Non-aligned scaffolds
Non-aligned scaffolds are fabricated from spun fibers
using a non-woven textile process and resemble felt.
Further modifications of the basic scaffold material
can be conducted in the laboratory to enhance cell attachment
and growth or to modify the physical properties and
resorption rate of the non-aligned scaffold. The scaffolds
are supplied non-sterile. Custom scaffolds made from
polylactide (PLLA), PGA/PLLA copolymers and other synthetic
resorbable polymers are available upon request. E-mail
your enquiries to: rccs@synthecon.com.
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