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Abstract:
The study presents two types of three-dimensional membranes made of the biodegradable copolymer. They were obtained by the wet-phase inversion method using different solvent and pore precursors. In one case, a nonwoven made of gelatin and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as precursors of macropores and small pores, respectively, were used. In the second case, PVP nonwovens and Pluronic were used properly for macro- and micro-pores. As the material, a biodegradable poly(L-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) is composed of 30% ε-caprolactone and 70% poly(L-lactic acid) was used. Depending on the pore precursors, different membrane structures were obtained. The morphology of pores was studied using the MeMoExplorer™, an advanced software designed for computer analysis of the scanning electron microscopy images. The scaffolds were degraded in phosphate-buffered saline and Hank’s balanced salt solutions at 37°C. Moreover, the porosity of the membranes before and after hydrolysis was calculated.

Keywords:
3D scaffolds, poly(L-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone), porosity of membrane, phase inversion method, degradation of scaffolds