Description
The implantation of biomaterials may elicit a host response to this foreign body, and the magnitude of
that reaction depends on the host and on the implanted material. The aim of this study was to compare
the inflammatory response induced by the implantation of starch-based (SPCL) scaffolds in two implantation
rat models: subcutaneous (SC) and intramuscular (IM). Moreover, two methodologies, wet spinning
(WS) and fibre-bonding (FB), were used to prepare the scaffolds. The short-term inflammatory/
immune host reaction was assessed by SC and IM implantations in rats after 1 and 2 weeks, and the
long-term host response was addressed after 8 and 12 weeks of SC implantation of both types of SPCL
scaffolds in rats. After each time period, the scaffolds, surrounding tissue and nearby lymph nodes were
explanted, and used for histological analysis and molecular biology evaluation. The results showed that
SPCL-WS scaffolds seem to induce a slight lower inflammatory/immune reaction in both types of implantation
models. Nonetheless, comparing the two models, the IM implantation resulted in a slightly higher
inflammatory response than the SC implantation with early activation of the lymph nodes. The overall
data suggests a good integration of the materials in the host, independently of the tissue location with
a normal progress of the reaction for all the conditions.
; Marques, A. P. 
