Date of Award

2010-01-01

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Engineering

Advisor(s)

Malcolm N. Cooke

Abstract

It is known that the body can efficiently repair hard tissue (bone) micro fractures by suturing the defect through the deposition of minerals resulting in an area that is stronger post-injury. Larger defects, however, generally cause more trouble since the body is incapable of repairing them. Bone defects can occur as a result of congenital abnormalities, trauma, or disease. Traditional methods for addressing these defects have involved the use of acellular cadaverous bone or autologous bone. Both contain innate problems associated with them; the former method can result in disease transmission, as well as very low integration with the host due to the lack of viable cells while the latter is associated with two surgical sites and morbidity at the donor site. Alternative methods have been developed, but no method has yet provided a satisfactory solution. As a result, researchers and the medical community are turning toward the promising fields of biomaterial development and tissue engineering to develop new materials and methods of bone regeneration.

In this work, a design of experiments (DOE) approach was performed to render commercially available biodegradable polymers (Poly(caprolactone)-diol/triol) photocrosslinkable and resultantly manufacturable using stereolithography (SL), a rapid prototyping technology. To perform the investigations, a commercial SL system (Viper HA, 3D Systems, Valencia, CA) equipped with a solid state laser system (355 nm wavelength) was used to manufacture synthesized poly(caprolactone) trifumarate (PCLtF) 3D porous constructs. Results of the work conducted produced constructs which provided promising chemical and biological results for the intended application.

Language

en

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Size

109 pages

File Format

application/pdf

Rights Holder

Nathan Jonathan Castro

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