Method for preparing porous scaffold for tissue engineering, cell culture and cell delivery

A method for preparing a porous scaffold which consists of the following steps:

• a) preparing an alkaline aqueous solution comprising an amount of at least one polysaccharide selected from the group consisting of dextran, agar, pullulan, inulin, heparin, fucoidan, and mixtures thereof;
• an amount of a covalent cross-linking agent selected from the group consisting of trisodium trimetaphosphate (STMP), phosphorus oxychloride (POCl3), epichlorohydrin, formaldehydes, and glutaraldehydes;
• and an amount of a porogen agent selected from the group consisting of ammonium carbonate, ammonium bicarbonate, calcium carbonate, sodium carbonate, and sodium bicarbonate and mixtures thereof;
• b) transforming the solution into a hydrogel by placing said solution at a temperature from about 4° C. to about 80° C. for a sufficient time to allow the cross-linking of said amount of polysaccharide;
• c) submerging said hydrogel into an aqueous acidic solution to form pores;
• and
• d) washing the porous scaffold obtained at step c),
• wherein
• the porous scaffold is a hydrogel;
• the porogen agent is dissolved in step a);
• the weight ratio of the polysaccharide to the porogen agent is in the range from 6:1 to 1:1;
• and
• wherein the alkaline aqueous solution in a) does not include a surfactant.