Preparation and evaluation of microporous organogel scaffolds for cell viability and proliferation

Various porous scaffolds utilizing an organogel were prepared by particulate-leaching method. The porous organogels were made of biodegradable, non-toxic ingredients like soybean oil or caprylic/capric triglyceride as the organic liquids and 12-hydroxystearic acid as the gelator. The scaffolds possessed an effective porosity of 56–65%, and good pore interconnectivity with an average pore size from 220 to 290 μm. The biodegradability of such materials was evaluated and lipases were able to totally degrade the scaffolds. The porosity of the material associated with high draining led to suitable scaffolds which were evaluated for CHO cell viability and proliferation using the MTT test. This evaluation was performed over a period of 3 weeks and showed a greater ability to promote cell proliferation for the soybean oil based scaffold than for the caprylic/capric triglyceride one. The histological investigations revealed that this scaffold was able to promote cell colonization and attachment and could induce the production of collagen.