Fatigue prediction in fibrin poly-epsilon-caprolactone macroporous scaffolds

Abstract

Tissue engineering applications rely on scaffolds that during its service life, either for in-vivo or in vitro applications, are under loading. The variation of the mechanical condition of the scaffold is strongly relevant for cell culture and has scarcely been addressed. The fatigue life cycle of poly-epsilon-caprolactone, PCL, scaffolds with and without fibrin as filler of the pore structure were characterized both dry and immersed in liquid water. It is observed that the there is a strong increase from 100 to 500 in the number of loading cycles before collapse in the samples tested in immersed conditions due to the more uniform stress distributions within the samples, the fibrin loading playing a minor role in the mechanical performance of the scaffolds.