Characterisation of pores over a broad range of sizes poses a problem especially when analysing soft polymer hydrogels, as no one methodology can adequately cover the entire range.
This paper by Sergey V. Mikhalovsky and co-workers describes a combined technique used for evaluation of the porous structure of a collagen hydrogel on the basis of NMR-cryoporometry (sensitive to nanopores) and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) imaging (sensitive to macropores). Thermodesorption of water, diffusion of proteins through a collagen membrane, migration and growth of normal primary human skin fibroblasts, and the interaction kinetics of 3T3 mouse fibroblast cells (using a quartz crystal microbalance) with collagen were also analysed with respect to the porous structure of the material.
Read the full article here: Vladimir M. Gun’ko, Lyuba I. Mikhalovska, Irina N. Savina, Rostislav V. Shevchenko, Stuart L. James, Paul E. Tomlins and Sergey V. Mikhalovsky, Soft Matter, 2010, DOI: 10.1039/C0SM00617C
