The development of an embedding technique for polylactide sponges.

The use of absorbable polymeric biomaterials is increasing in the field of tissue engineering. These polymeric scaffolds provide mechanical strength and shape as the engineered tissue forms. Histological analysis is an important part of the development of an appropriate polymeric construct, because it allows the analysis of the cell/material interaction. Unfortunately, routine paraffin processing often degrades these absorbable polymers, and routine staining can dissolve the remnants. This research sought to develop a histological procedure that would retain the polymer structure. Two processing procedures, paraffin and glycol methacrylate, were tested on three in vitro groups of poly-L-lactide sponges, high cell density seeding, low cell density seeding, and a control. The paraffin processing caused shrinkage and degradation of the polymer, and staining dissolved the remnants. The glycol methacrylate processing minimized damage to the polymer even after staining. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.