Development of Three-Dimensional Porous Architecture and Biocompatibility Based Poly(p-dioxanone) Composite with Small Intestinal Submucosa for Soft Tissue Repair and Reconstruction

There is huge demand for soft tissue reconstructive materials, which could potentially mimic the architecture of the extracellular matrix (ECM) of three-dimensional (3D) biocompatible and biodegradable scaffolds which have been considered a good candidate matrix for cell delivery in tissue engineering applications. In this study, hydrolytic degradation of bioabsorbable poly(p-dioxanone) (PPDO) was modified by the small intestinal submucosa (SIS) into PPDO/SIS composite scaffolds. Natural ECM of the SIS provided the whole composite scaffolds as a cell proliferative environment with no change in PPDO's crystal texture. The PPDO/SIS composite scaffold not only exhibited good cellular adhesivity and proliferation, but also showed increased degradable duration, stronger mechanical properties and greater flexibility due to a PPDO component. This study points out the great potential of these composite materials in cellular attaching and proliferating, which can be further exploited for vivo soft tissue reconstruction and reparation and clinical engineered tissues for long-term graft viability.