Development of novel carrageenan scaffolds for tissue engineering using rapid prototyping

[Excerpt] In the Tissue Engineering (TE) field, great attention has been given devoted to the use of rapid prototyping (RP). The combined use of Computer Assisted Design (CAD) with advanced RP techniques enables the design and fabrication in a reproducible way of patient adapted scaffolds featuring complex 3D architectures. In this context, Carrageenan is a natural polymer that exhibits a very high biomedical potential. Carrageenan is a sulphated hydrocolloid capable of forming hydrogels with very different behaviours and properties depending on the experimental conditions. [...]