Poly (Butylene Succinate) Scaffolds Prepared by Leaching

Biomaterials are the main focuses of scientists’ efforts to develop new materials to replace or repair bone tissues [1]. Biomaterials are natural or synthetic materials which can interface with biological systems allowing the increase, repair or even the replacement of tissues and organs of the human body [2]. Within biomaterials, the polymers can be natural or synthetic as well. The main polymers used to repair bone tissue are the polyglycolic acid (PGA), polylactic acid (PLA), polyhydroxybutyrate acid (PHB) and polycaprolactone (PCL) [3-5]. These polymers are useful to the “scaffolds” development in the bone tissue engineering field, acting as templates for the formation of new tissues. For this, these materials must present specific requirements such as adequated internal architecture and surface properties, besides mechanical resistance and porosity [6,7]. These biodegradable templates must be porous to the highly efficient propagation of cells and nutrients, and also for supplying oxygen [8]. Besides that, these pores should be three-dimensionally interlinked, allowing the proliferation of new bone tissue and facilitating fluid transport through the material [9]. A wide variety of natural and synthetic materials are being investigated for the design and construction of scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. Among them, the most remarkable are the natural polymers, such as gelatin, agar, fibrin or collagen; the synthetic bioresorbable polymers, such as polylactic acid (PLA), polycaprolactone (PCL); and, finally, the porous ceramics, such as bioglass and calcium phosphate structures as well as the natural ceramics, such as coral [10-12]. In this context, the poly (butylene succinate), PBS is a biodegradable aliphatic biopolyester. When compared to other similar polymers, PBS presents improved mechanical and processing properties. PBS also presents biocompatibility, being an osteoconductive material which allows cell adhesion. Literature shows PBS associated with other polymers as an efficient matrix to the preparation of scaffold [13-16]. Mostly, expensive techniques, such as electrospinning, are used to the preparation of these materials [16]. Thus, PBS was used here to prepare scaffolds by leaching using NaCl as a cheap porogenic agent. The obtained materials were characterized using several techniques, and the results allowed inferring that leaching is a fast, little expensive and efficient way to prepare PBS scaffolds.