Mechanically Enhanced Hierarchically Porous Scaffold Composed of Mesoporous Silica for Host Immune Cell Recruitment

Hierarchically porous materials have been of interest in many diverse fields, including catalysis, separations, and tissue engineering, because the hierarchical porosity of the materials contributes to improvements in mechanical properties, transport properties, and molecule selectivity. In this study, we, for the first time, introduce a new approach to fabricate hierarchical macroporous and mesoporous silica scaffolds based on a salt-leaching process using as-prepared mesoporous silica as a building block. The mechanical strength of the resulting inorganic 3D scaffold was significantly improved by controlling the interfaces of mesoporous silica particles, which allowed for high structural stability during in vivo implantation. Implantation of the scaffold loaded with pro-inflammatory cytokine in mesopores into mice successfully recruited a high number of host immune cells, including dendritic cells, into the macropores, which shows their potential use for immunomodulation.