Matrix Assisted Pulsed Laser Evaporation (MAPLE) of poly(D,L lactide) (PDLLA) on three dimensional Bioglass® structures

MAPLE deposition of PDLLA polymer on Bioglass-based scaffolds was investigated to develop composite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. Deposition was carried out using a set of deposition parameters previously determined in orderto avoid monomer chemical structure damage. Here different processing parameters were investigated in order to perform for the first time PDLLA deposition on a three-dimensional scaffold structure. The experimental results show that a lower concentration and a higher deposition duration (i.e., a larger number of pulses) should be preferred to achieve sufficient PDLLA deposition. The polymer was shown to penetrate to some extent from the surface producing a graded composite material, with a core made fully of Bioglass and outer layer made of the polymer coated scaffold. Whether or not the polymer fibrils deposited were able to infiltrate cracks on the struts surfaces remains to be investigated. The MAPLE technique appears to be a promising method for the development of threedimensional porous structures based on bioactive glass and biodegradable polymers for potential application in osteochondral tissue engineering