Fabrication of porous 3-D structure from poly(l-lactide)-based nano-composite foams. Effect of foam structure on enzymatic degradation

To understand the effect of the foam structure on the enzymatic degradation and porous structure development, we have examined the enzymatic degradation of a poly(l-lactide) (PLLA)-based nano-composite foam having different cell density (microcellular and nanocellular), using proteinase-K as a degrading agent at 37 °C. The surface and cross-sectional morphologies of the foam recovered after enzymatic hydrolysis for different intervals were investigated by using scanning electron microscopic and mercury porosimetric analyses. The fabrication of porous three-dimensional structure for tissue engineering scaffolds and the degradation performance in nano-composite foams were discussed.