Fabrication of PLGA microvessel scaffolds with circular microchannels using soft lithography

Abstract

A simple micromolding method for fabricating PLGA ( poly( lactic-co-glycolic acid)) microstructures made up of microchannels with a circular cross-section is presented. The thermal reflow technique is adopted to fabricate the semi-cylindrical photoresist master. The PLGA solution is prepared by dissolving PLGA polymer in acetone and then casting the solution onto the semi-cylindrical photoresist master to produce PLGA microstructures. Two PLGA membranes are bonded together to form microstructures consisting of circular microchannels. A microvessel scaffold suitable for tissue engineering was fabricated using the proposed method, and bovine endothelial cells were cultured into the scaffold by semi-dynamic seeding. The cell stain Calcein-AM was used to overcome the problem of the PLGA scaffolds becoming opaque, which in the past had made it difficult to effectively monitor the progress of cell seeding.