In vitro and in vivo characteristics of PCL scaffolds with pore size gradient fabricated by a centrifugation method.

Polycaprolactone (PCL) cylindrical scaffolds with gradually increasing pore size along the longitudinal direction were fabricated by a novel centrifugation method to investigate pore size effect on cell and tissue interactions. The scaffold was fabricated by the centrifugation of a cylindrical mold containing fibril-like PCL and the following fibril bonding by heat treatment. The scaffold showed gradually increasing pore size (from approximately 88 to approximately 405 microm) and porosity (from approximately 80% to approximately 94%) along the cylindrical axis by applying the centrifugal speed, 3000 rpm. The scaffold sections were examined for their in vitro cell interactions using different kinds of cells (chondrocytes, osteoblasts, and fibroblasts) and in vivo tissue interactions using a rabbit model (skull bone defects) in terms of scaffold pore sizes. It was observed that different kinds of cells and bone tissue were shown to have different pore size ranges in the scaffold for effective cell growth and tissue regeneration. The scaffold section with 380-405 microm pore size showed better cell growth for chondrocytes and osteoblasts, while the scaffold section with 186-200 microm pore size was better for fibroblasts growth. Also the scaffold section with 290-310 microm pore size showed faster new bone formation than those of other pore sizes. The pore size gradient scaffolds fabricated by the centrifugation method can be a good tool for the systematic studies of the interactions between cells or tissues and scaffolds with different pore size.