Author(s)

P. Bártolo, A. Mendes & A. Jardini

Abstract

Three-dimensional scaffolds play a key role in tissue engineering acting as extracellular structures onto which cells can attach, grow and form new tissues. The design of scaffolds for tissue engineering needs to address several geometrical constraints in terms of both internal and external geometry, porosity, pore size and pore interconnectivity. Rapid prototyping provides an effective way to manufacture scaffolds with designed properties. This paper proposes a new rapid prototyping system to produce three-dimensional alginate structures for tissue engineering by extruding, layer-by-layer, a solution of sodium alginate in water with cell or growth factors with a solution of calcium chloride. Alginate is a biode

Keywords