AVS 49th International Symposium
    Biomaterials Wednesday Sessions
       Session BI-WeP

Paper BI-WeP5
Fabrication and Characterization of Regular Porous Polymer Films for Biomedical Devices

Wednesday, November 6, 2002, 11:00 am, Room Exhibit Hall B2

Session: Biointerfaces and Surfaces II
Presenter: M. Tanaka, Hokkaido University, Japan
Authors: M. Tanaka, Hokkaido University, Japan
M. Takebayashi, Hokkaido University, Japan
K. Sato, Hokkaido University, Japan
M. Miyama, Hokkaido University, Japan
K. Nishikawa, Hokkaido University, Japan
J. Nishida, Hokkaido University, Japan
M. Shimomura, Hokkaido University, Japan
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Porous polymer matrices are widely used in biomedical applications such as tissue engineering and artificial organs. The present studies describe the fabrication and characterization of highly regular porous polymer films formed by simple casting technique. The micro porous films were fabricated from biodegradable polymer such as poly(@epsilon@-caprolactone), poly(lactic acid-co-glicolic acid), poly(3-hydroxybutylate) and poly(L-lactic acid). Various experimental factors affecting pore size and thickness of the film, solvent, cast volume and so on, were studied. The porous film shows a highly regular hexagonal arrangement of holes in a large area and can be easily peeled off from a glass substrate as a self-supported porous film. The pore size can be controlled in the range from 1 to 50µm by changing the evaporation time of the polymer solutions. The thickness of the film becomes thinner with decreasing the concentration. The pores were connected to each other in the porous film. The films with 1-5 g/L of concentration of the polymer had the penetrated structure. On the other hand, the un-penetrated structure was formed when the concentration of the polymer exceeded 5 g/L. The porous film with controlled pore size is used for cell separation and biomedical devices.