**Author details**

usually necessary to enhance the mechanical properties of these porous structures by means of the methods, shown in Chapter 2, with nanomaterials or other techniques. For example, the use of a hybrid hydrogel nanocomposite of silica/poly(2-hydroxyethyl acrylate) as scaffold material matrix greatly improves the mechanical properties, and the silica phase of the scaffold was effectively interconnected and continuous, able to withstand pyrolysis without

**Figure 4.** Morphology of the gelatin-PHEMA porous scaffolds as obtained through μ-CT (panels (a)–(c): (a), top view; (b), bottom view; (c), side view) and SEM (panel (d)) analyses: panel (I), C0; panel (II), C1; panel (III), C2; panel (IV), C3.

Other modifications of acrylics such as those of PHEMA with cholesterol methacrylate (CHLMA) and laminin have been developed in the presence of ammonium oxalate crystals to introduce interconnected superpores in the matrix in order to design superporous scaffolds that promote cell-surface interaction [116]. PHEMA has also been modified with laminin-

losing the pore architecture of the scaffold [37].

Reprinted with permission from Ref. [107].

88 Acrylic Polymers in Healthcare

Ángel Serrano-Aroca

Address all correspondence to: angel.serrano@ucv.es

Bioengineering and Cellular Therapy Group, Department of Applied and Technological Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary and Experimental Sciences, San Vicente Mártir Catholic University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
