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Biomaterials

Biomaterials - Poster Session A

Poster B5 - 3D Printed Tunable Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Engineering

Thursday, October 24, 2024
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM EST
Location: Exhibit Hall E, F & G

Introduction:  Bone trauma is prevalent across the world and leads to bone defects. Implantation is required for severe bone defects for the bone to heal. While there are various alternatives, allografts and autografts are the standard treatment but they have limitations that could be addressed with newly developed functional alternatives. Research into the use of biocompatible and biodegradable scaffolds as bone substitutes has been of great importance in bone tissue engineering. This approach has led to an exploration of different fabrication processes like three-dimensional (3D) printing. 3D printing allows users to modulate and control different characteristics of scaffolds including the structure and porosity to match that of native bone for integration. Polymeric biomaterials have shown to be promising due to their biocompatibility and bioresorption in the body over time to enable deposition of the newly formed extracellular matrix.

Materials and

Methods:  In this work, SolidWorks software was used to design and develop scaffolds of varying porosities, infill patterns, and internal structures. The patterns used were grid, hexagonal/honeycomb, and gyroid. The infill densities used were 15%, 45%, and 75% for each pattern type. These models were then converted to STL format and uploaded to a slicing software to determine the printing path. These changes were then saved in gcode format and uploaded to a 3D printer. After these scaffolds were fabricated using polylactic acid (PLA), they were characterized with compression testing. Finally, preosteoblast cells were seeded onto these scaffolds, cultured, and characterized over 7 days. Alamar blue assays and cell stainings were then carried out to evaluate the cytocompatibility of the scaffolds and observe the osteogenic differentiation of the cells.

Results, Conclusions, and Discussions: Scaffolds ranging from 10 to 40 millimeters in diameter and height were successfully 3D-printed using PLA. These scaffolds consisted of different porosity patterns including grid and honeycomb and different infill densities of 15%, 45%, and 75%. The scaffolds were characterized with compression testing which indicated the highest elasticity for the scaffolds with honeycomb structures. Live/dead assays were performed for preosteoblasts following the manufacturer’s protocols and confirmed the high cytocompatibility of the scaffolds.

Acknowledgements (Optional):