Direct laser fabrication of polymeric implants for cardiovascular surgery

Abstract

In this work we present Multi-Photon Polymerization fabrication technique for biomedical applications. Optimal structuring parameters were defined in different polymeric materials using various lasers with different pulse durations (8 ps, 300 fs, 80 fs) and excitation wavelengths (532 nm, 515 nm and 800 nm), respectively. The applied photopolymers were: acrylate based AKRE, hybrid organic-inorganic Ormocore b59 and SZ2080, biodegradable PEG-DA-258 mixed with radical polymerization photoinitiators optimized for specific exposure conditions. It was defined that photoinitiators' molecules did not affect materials cytotoxicity. Biocompatibilities of the used materials were investigated and showed positive results in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, various in size and form artificial scaffolds were designed and fabricated as sample prototype implant structures for further experiments for tissue engineering applications in cardiovascular surgery.