Mechano-active scaffolds

Biological processes are regulated through mechanical stimuli as well as biochemical interactions. The process by which mechanical stimuli are sensed and transmitted to the nucleus to induce changes in cell morphology and phenotype is also not clearly understood. Nevertheless, tissue engineering research takes mechanical stimuli into consideration, particularly in efforts to engineer components of the cardiovascular system and articular cartilage. Strategies concerning the mechanical environment of cells or tissues have been termed "mechano-active tissue engineering." Mechano-active scaffolds have employed elastic materials in mechano-active vascular and cartilage tissue engineering. Natural polymers and biodegradable polymers were studied for design of mechano-active scaffolds. The poly-(L-lactide-cocaprolactone) (PLCL) copolymer is composed of a soft matrix of ε-caprolactone moieties and hard domains containing additional L-lactide units, and exhibits a rubber-like elasticity in its physically cross-linked structure. This very elastic PLCL copolymer has also been fabricated as a macroporous scaffold for tissue engineering applications. PLCL has been fabricated for microporous scaffolds using a variety of techniques such as extrusion-particulate leaching, gel spinning, freeze drying, and electrospinning. This chapter discusses some of the recent insight into the fabrication and application of PLCL scaffolds for tissue engineering.