Conventional methods of preparing biomedical-based porous structures from biomacromolecules offer great potential in a number of application areas within the healthcare sector. The key requirements for these fabrication methods are enhanced control over structural features, scale-up potential, robustness, convenience, non-toxicity, ease of use and economic viability. Electrospun fibrous structures have drawn considerable attention particularly for tissue engineering applications. In this thesis, a technique based on the same principles; co-axial electrohydrodynamic flow processing, commonly used to generate encapsulated macromolecular structures for applications in drug delivery and medicine, was adapted for the generation of microbubbles as templates for porous structures. The applicability of the electrohydrodynamic bubbling processing and the generated bubble structures were investigated for their use in the field of tissue engineering. Microbubbles coated with proteins bovine serum albumin (model protein) and/or silk fibroin (SF) were generated and the effect of processing parameters (applied voltage and flow rate) on the bubble size, uniformity and stability were investigated. Porous structures were fabricated by the layer by layer deposition of microbubbles and investigated by their pore morphologies and internal structures with varying concentrations, blends and with the use of a cross-linking agent. The formed structures were analysed and compared in terms of their chemical interactions, thermal, mechanical and degradation properties. In addition, cell studies using mouse fibroblast cell lines were used to investigate the effects of processing parameters, ratio of SF to bovine serum albumin and the use of cross-linking on cell viability and proliferation. Furthermore, silk and hydroxyapatite composite scaffolds were formed to demonstrate their possible use in a specific application: bone tissue engineering. The applicability of microbubbled scaffolds was investigated using osteoblast bone cells. The results demonstrated the fabrication of porous structures with controllable pore size with a novel facet of electrohydrodynamic bubbling process.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:626355 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Ekemen, Z. |
| Publisher | University College London (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1406400/ |
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