Research Article Osteoblast-Like Cell Behavior on Porous Scaffolds Based on Poly(styrene) Fibers Andrada Serafim, 1 Romain Mallet, 2 Florence Pascaretti-Grizon, 2 Izabela-Cristina Stancu, 1 and Daniel Chappard 2 1 Advanced Polymer Materials Group, University Politehnica of Bucharest, 149 Calea Victoriei, Sector 1, 010072 Bucharest, Romania 2 GEROM Groupe Etudes Remodelage Osseux et bioMat´ eriaux-LHEA, IRIS-IBS Institut de Biologie en Sant´ e, LUNAM Universit´ e, 49933 Angers Cedex, France Correspondence should be addressed to Izabela-Cristina Stancu; izabela.cristina.stancu@gmail.com and Daniel Chappard; daniel.chappard@univ-angers.fr Received 14 April 2014; Accepted 3 June 2014; Published 19 June 2014 Academic Editor: Despina Deligianni Copyright © 2014 Andrada Serafm et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Scafolds of nonresorbable biomaterials can represent an interesting alternative for replacing large bone defects in some particular clinical cases with massive bone loss. Poly(styrene) microfbers were prepared by a dry spinning method. Tey were partially melted to provide 3D porous scafolds. Te quality of the material was assessed by Raman spectroscopy. Surface roughness was determined by atomic force microscopy and vertical interference microscopy. Saos-2 osteoblast-like cells were seeded on the surface of the fbers and lef to proliferate. Cell morphology, evaluated by scanning electron microscopy, revealed that they can spread and elongate on the rough microfber surface. Porous 3D scafolds made of nonresorbable poly(styrene) fbers are cytocompatible biomaterials mimicking allogenic bone trabeculae and allowing the growth and development of osteoblast-like cells in vitro. 1. Introduction Te increasing frequencies of traumatic and pathologic bone defects, as well as the skeletal problems due to osteoporosis and bone degeneration in aging population, request a soci- etal need for improved therapeutic products. Te need for biomimetic scafold materials as alternative to bone auto- or allografs is well recognized [1]. Consequently, the investiga- tion of artifcial materials for bone repair remains a constant key concern in the feld of biomaterials research for clinical applications. It is widely accepted that three-dimensional porous constructs are needed to lodge bone cells and to provide the template for tissue formation and development, including angiogenesis. Synthetic or natural ceramics are either too brittle to be used in weight-bearing bones (e.g., - Tri calcium phosphate) or massive and impossible to resorb by bone remodeling (e.g., coral or hydroxyapatite blocks). Biodegradable biocompatible polymers have been proposed to fll small bone defects. Clinical situations exist where large bone defects cannot be replaced by such resorbable materials which also present important drawbacks (e.g., polylactic or polyglycolic acid) [2, 3]. Large bone faps of the skull are done in neurosurgery for the treatment of tumors or large pelvic amputations occurring in the case of sarcoma or metastasis. Reconstruction with a variety of nonresorbable materials has been proposed (tantalum or titanium plates, PMMA plates prepared with bone cement...) but none has been found satisfactory [4]. For example, PMMA is biotolerated and always encapsulated by a thin layer of fbrosis. Unlike biodegradable macromolecules, nonbiodegradable and bio- compatible polymers such as polyhydroxyethyl methacrylate and poly(styrene) could represent interesting solutions to generate permanent scafolds supporting bone regeneration in case of extensive bone losses. We have investigated polyhydroxyethyl methacrylate as an interesting synthetic hydrogel for bone biomaterials [5–8]. However, its use in load bearing applications may be limited by insufcient mechan- ical strength in hydrated form. Terefore, we considered Hindawi Publishing Corporation BioMed Research International Volume 2014, Article ID 609319, 6 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/609319