Page 70 - Tailoring Electrospinning Techniques for Regenerative Medicine - Marc Simonet

CHAPTER 3
Figure 3.8 Mechanical tests of poly(lactic acid-co-glycolic acid) and polyester-urethane meshes, spun at 30% relative humidity. 3.5 Conclusions
Compared to conventional electrospinning at room temperature we have demonstrated that the porosity of electrospun meshes can be significantly increased (4 times) by low-temperature electrospinning a ording simultaneous deposition of ice crystals and fibers. The mesh porosity was related to the ice crystals serving as a removable void template. The amount of ice co-deposited on the external surface of the collection drum showed a distinct onset for humidity’s above 30% and demonstrated a robust process design.
A major advantage of low-temperature electrospinning is the straightforward design. This process does not require additional chemicals or solvents making it suitable for biomedical applications, e.g. in tissue engineering where
production standards and legislatory approval of a material largely profit from a simple process design. The high, 3-dimensional porosity accessible by low- temperature electrospinning suggest application of such polymer meshes for cell culture where an increased void space and open porous structure was found to support cell growth. Specific morphological and mechanical properties can be obtained by selecting appropriate polymers since this process modification can be applied to most electrospinning processes.
3.6 Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Vappu Hämmerli for her help with the SEM-pictures.
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