Advances in Manufacturing of Biodegradable Spinal Cord Implants on Microscale through Micromolding and 3D Printing

Spinal cord injury is a life changing event potentially leading to permanent paralysis. This paper presents advances in developing an implant for spinal cord treatment called mechanical microconnector system (mMS). A micromolding process was developed to transfer the mMS from biocompatible to biodegradable material. The results consist of a determined parameter-set for micromolding of biodegradable mMS for two poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) compounds and polycaprolactone (PCL). The process starts with a complex 3D quartz glass premaster, built through ultrafast laser radiation and subsequent wet-chemical etching (SLE = selective laser induced etching). The incorporation of a 3D printing technique arises from the objective to individualize and automatically produce biodegradable implants out of medical image data in future.