{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.023672424824056303, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0012795905310300703, 'mean_word_length': 5.543933054393306, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Mechanical Properties of Polymeric Scaffolds for Soft Tissue Regeneration: Influence of Cells Growth

Introduction Replacement and/or augmentation of soft tissues are often required in cosmetic surgery as well as in the surgical treatment of malformations caused by congenital degenerative pathologies, traumatic injuries or oncological resections of parts of the body (1). Two kind of reconstructive techniques are currently in use, based on autologous implants or insertion of synthetic augmentative materials. Both solutions may present, however, considerable drawbacks, such as fibrous tissue growth, allergic reactions, mechanical degeneracy, reduction of implant volume, contortion, distortion and migration. Therefore, researches in the field, aimed at providing new materials able to be completely and permanently integrated into the body, are particularly active. A new fascinating approach for the replacement and/or regeneration of a damaged tissue, is represented by tissue engineering, based on the promotion of the growth of new natural tissues by means of cells culture in a three-dimensional polymeric and bio-degradable scaffold (2). In this frame, we have been investigating the application of the above approach to the adipose tissue, as an example of soft tissue. Bio-degradable polymeric sponges, made up of derivative of hyaluronic acid, were loaded with precursor of fat cells isolated from animal soft tissue. The purpose of this work is that of evaluating the influence of cells growth on mechanical properties of those polymeric sponges.