Bulletin of the Chemists and Technologists of Macedonia, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 147–156 (2004) GHTMDD – 447 ISSN 0350 – 0136 Received: August 5, 2004 UDC: 678.7 Accepted: September 8, 2004 Original scientific paper SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF BIOCOMPATIBLE MULTICOMPONENT POLYMER SYSTEMS AS SUPPORTS FOR CELL CULTURES Aleksandra Porjazoska 1 , Maja Cvetkovska 1* , Okşan Karal Yılmaz 2 , Kemal Baysal 2 , Nilhan Kayaman Apohan 3 , Bahattin M. Baysal 4 1 Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, Ss Cyril and Methodius University, P. O. Box 580, MK-1001 Skopje, Republic of Macedonia 2 TUBITAK, Research Institute for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, P.O. Box 21, 41470 Gebze, Turkey 3 Marmara University, Department of Chemistry, 81040 Göztepe-Istanbul, Turkey 4 Boğaziçi University, Department of Chemisty, 34342 Bebek-Istanbul, Turkey majac@ian.tmf.ukim.edu.mk Engineering living tissue for reconstructive surgery requires an appropriate cell source and optimal culture conditions, but also a suitable biodegradable scaffold as the basic elements. On the basis of the well known facts that scaffold chemistry and architecture can influence the fate and func- tion of engrafted cells, a large number of polymers, as cell cultures supports, have been proposed. In this study, we report a synthesis, characterization and cell interactions with the following polymer systems: I. Poly[L- lactic acid / glycolic acid / poly(dimethylsiloxane)], copolymers II. Poly(DL – lactic acid) / triblock PCL – PDMS – PCL copolymers, III. Blends of poly(DL – lactic – co – glycolic acid) and triblock PCL – PDMS – PCL copolymers For the cell seeding experiments, Swiss 3T3 and/or L929 mouse fibroblasts were grown in RPMI 1640 and/or DMEM / F12 medium, and placed onto the biopolymer nonporous or porous films, prepared using a particulate leaching technique. The amount of cells present on the surfaces of the scaffolds was quantified using a neutral red uptake assay. Key words: biodegradable block copolymers and blends; synthesis and characterization; scaffolds for tissue engineering; interaction with cells INTRODUCTION Tissue engineering has been proposed as a therapeutic approach to create new tissues and treat patients suffering from the loss or dysfunction of tissues and organs [1]. A number of tissue engineer- ing strategies have been developed, and many in- volve the transplantation of cells on or within poly- meric matrices. The matrices must maintain struc- tural integrity during the process of tissue forma- tion, and promote the vascularization of the devel- oping tissue [2]. Biodegradable polymers, originally developed as drug delivery vehicles, have been used to de- velop implantable tissue engineering devices. Scaf- folds for cell transplantation that are created from biodegradable polymers can combine advantages of synthetic and natural materials. Physical proper- ties of synthetic polymers, such as mechanical strength and degradation rate, can be precisely con- trolled, and synthetic scaffolds can be produced with fewer batch-to-batch variations than scaffolds made from natural materials. Furthermore, scaffolds can be designed to incorporate signals that affect cell regulation, function and reorganization [2, 3]. The concomitant process of polymer degradation and expansion of transplanted cells ideally lead to crea- tion of the desired tissue without chronic foreign body responses.