Macroporous poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) matrices for cartilage tissue engineering

Polymer scaffold systems consisting of poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) were investigated for possible application as a matrix for the three-dimensional growth of chondrocyte culture. The PHBV scaffolds were fabricated by a compression moulding, thermal processing and salt particulate leaching method without using organic solvent. The porous structure of the scaffolds was investigated with an optical microscope (OM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) and the porosity was calculated. Then, the chondrocytes were cultured on the PHBV scaffolds for lone time to investigate whether it can be applied to construct the cartilage tissue in vitro. The results showed that the chondrocytes maintained their activity, fully expressed their phenotype and produced the extracellular matrix after incubation in vitro on the scaffolds for 7 days. In addition, in the prolonged incubation time, the percent of chondrocytes in their nature round morphology increased with an increase in the incubation period and they could synthesize the type II collagen and cartilage-specific proteoglycans. All of these results showed that the PHBV scaffolds had the potential to be used as chondrocytes carrier for cartilage engineering.