Aligned porous fibrillar scaffold for tissue engineering and surgical application

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11285244-B2
Application number	US-201716347200-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 27, 2017
Priority date	Nov 3, 2016
Publication date	Mar 29, 2022
Grant date	Mar 29, 2022

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for preparing a polymer scaffold that comprises the steps of providing a piece of a fabric of filaments of a first biodegradable or biocompatible polymer, applying a coating of a second polymer to said arrangement of filaments, and stretching the piece along its axis of longitudinal extension, thereby obtaining an aligned microfibrillar scaffold. The invention further relates to a method for providing an artificial tissue, and to a microfibrillar scaffold of aligned filaments obtained by the method of the invention.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for preparing a polymer scaffold, comprising the steps of
a. providing a piece of a fabric, of filaments of a first polymer, wherein said first polymer is biodegradable or biocompatible, and wherein said piece is characterized by an axis of longitudinal extension;
b. applying a coating of a second polymer to said arrangement of filaments in a coating step, wherein said second polymer is characterized by a glass transition temperature being lower than the melting point of said first polymer;
c. stretching said piece along its axis of longitudinal extension,

thereby obtaining an aligned microfibrillar scaffold, wherein the first and second polymer are each characterized by a glass transition temperature Tg and a melting temperature Tm, and step c. is performed at a temperature that is
higher than the Tg of both the first and second polymer, and lower than the Tm of both the first and second polymer.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein in step c, said piece of fabric is stretched along its axis of longitudinal extension by more than 175%.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
prior to stretching in step c, said piece of fabric is characterized by a first index of alignment i A1 of said filaments, and wherein
after stretching in step c, said aligned microfibrillar scaffold is characterized by a second index of alignment i A2 , and wherein
the ratio i A2 /i A1 of said second index of alignment to said first index of alignment is equal or greater than (≥) 2.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein
the value of i A1 is ≤30%, and/or
the value of i A2 is ≥70%, and/or
the value of the ratio i A2 /i A1 is ≥2,3.

5. The method according to claim 1 ,
wherein step c. is performed at a temperature between 50° C. and 150° C.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
a. said second polymer is a biodegradable and/or a biocompatible polymer, and/or
b. the amount of said second polymer applied to said filaments ranges from 10% to 40 mass % in relation to the mass of said filaments of said first polymer.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
a. the first polymer is selected from the group comprising a polyester, a polyurethane and a polyaniline,
and/or

b. the second polymer is selected from a first group or a second group, but is different from the first polymer;
the first group comprising polyglycolide, poly(lactic acid), PLGA, poly(trimethylene carbonate), polyhydroxybutyrate, poly(4-hydroxybutyrate), poly(3-hydroxybutyrate), poly(glycolide-co-caprolactone), poly(glycolide-co-trimethylene carbonate), or a copolymer comprising glycolic acid or lactic acid monomers, or from
the second group comprising a polyethylene glycol (PEG) or a PEG copolymer; a polyaniline; a polyethylene terephthalate; poly(2-methoxyethyl acrylate); poly(2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine); poly(tetrahydrofurfuryl acrylate); polystyrene, or a copolymer comprising or essentially consisting of two or three polymer species comprised in the second group.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the second polymer is selected from
a. the first group mentioned in claim 7 a if the first polymer is selected from the first group mentioned in claim 7 a, or
b. the second group mentioned in claim 7 a if the first polymer is selected from the second group mentioned in claim 7 a.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein in the coating step, said second polymer is applied as dissolved in a solvent to said filaments of the first polymer, and the first polymer and the second polymer are selected from one line of the following Table,

1 st Polymer
2 nd Polymer
Solvent for 2 nd polymer

PGA
PLA
THF

PGA
PLGA
THF, Dioxane

PGA
PTMC
THF, Chloroform

PGA
P4HB
THF, Acetone

PGA
P3HB
THF, Acetone

PLA
PGA
THF, Dioxane

PLA
PLGA
THF, Dioxane

PLA
PTMC
THF, Chloroform

PLA
P4HB
THF, Acetone

PLA
P3HB
THF, Acetone

PTMC
PLA
THF

PTMC
PLGA
THF, Dioxane

PTMC
PGA
THF, Dioxane

PTMC
P4HB
THF, Acetone

PTMC
P3HB
THF, Acetone

P4HB
PLA
THF, Dioxane

P4HB
PLGA
THF, Dioxane

P4HB
PGA
THF, Dioxane

P4HB
PTMC
THF, Chloroform

P4HB
P3HB
THF, Acetone

P4HB
PEG
THF, Acetone

P3HB
PLA
THF

P3HB
PLGA
THF, Dioxane

P3HB
PGA
THF, Dioxane

P3HB
P4HB
THF, Acetone

and optionally, the sol

Assignees

• Eth Zuerich
• Univ Zuerich

Inventors

• Hoerstrup Simon Philipp
• Hosseini Seyedvahid
• Vogel Viola

Classifications

• A61L27/18

  obtained otherwise than by reactions only involving carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds · CPC title

• A61P21/00

  Drugs for disorders of the muscular or neuromuscular system · CPC title

• A61L27/56 Primary

  Porous materials, {e.g. foams or sponges} · CPC title

• A61L2430/10

  for reconstruction of tendons or ligaments · CPC title

• A61L2430/20

  for reconstruction of the heart, e.g. heart valves · CPC title