Additive manufacturing of wet-spun polymeric scaffolds for bone tissue engineering

Biomed Microdevices. 2012 Dec;14(6):1115-27. doi: 10.1007/s10544-012-9677-0.

Abstract

An Additive Manufacturing technique for the fabrication of three-dimensional polymeric scaffolds, based on wet-spinning of poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) or PCL/hydroxyapatite (HA) solutions, was developed. The processing conditions to fabricate scaffolds with a layer-by-layer approach were optimized by studying their influence on fibres morphology and alignment. Two different scaffold architectures were designed and fabricated by tuning inter-fibre distance and fibres staggering. The developed scaffolds showed good reproducibility of the internal architecture characterized by highly porous, aligned fibres with an average diameter in the range 200-250 μm. Mechanical characterization showed that the architecture and HA loading influenced the scaffold compressive modulus and strength. Cell culture experiments employing MC3T3-E1 preosteoblast cell line showed good cell adhesion, proliferation, alkaline phosphatase activity and bone mineralization on the developed scaffolds.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • 3T3 Cells
  • Alkaline Phosphatase / metabolism
  • Animals
  • Anthraquinones / metabolism
  • Biocompatible Materials
  • Bone and Bones / chemistry*
  • Cell Adhesion
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Cell Survival
  • Durapatite / metabolism
  • Equipment Design / methods
  • Materials Testing
  • Mice
  • Microscopy, Confocal
  • Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
  • Polyesters / metabolism
  • Polymers / chemistry*
  • Porosity
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Tissue Engineering / methods*
  • Tissue Scaffolds / chemistry*

Substances

  • Anthraquinones
  • Biocompatible Materials
  • Polyesters
  • Polymers
  • polycaprolactone
  • alizarin
  • Durapatite
  • Alkaline Phosphatase