The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 01, 2003
Filed:
Feb. 06, 2001
Innotech Medical, Inc., Daejon, KR;
Abstract
Three-dimensional porous biodegradable and biocompatible, polymeric scaffolds for tissue engineering are prepared by a method involving effervescing of an effervescent salt in a gel to result in a porous structure. A polymer is dissolved in an organic solvent to prepare a polymer solution of high viscosity. Optionally, the polymer solution is mixed with an organic solvent that does not dissolve the polymer to concentrate the solution. An effervescent salt is homogeneously mixed with the polymer solution to give a polymer/salt/organic solvent mixed gel. The organic solvent is removed from the mixed gel to produce an organic solvent-free polymer/salt gel slurry. The gel slurry is submerged in a hot aqueous solution or acidic solution to cause the salt to effervesce at room temperature to form a porous three-dimensional polymeric structure. The polymeric structure is washed with distilled water and freeze-dried to yield a scaffold that is suitable for cell or tissue culture. Pore size and porosity of the scaffold can be easily controlled by controlling the size and amount of the effervescent salt and concentration of the acidic solution.