A facile and productive method has been developed to synthesize uniform LaF3 nanocrystals with controllable shapes, including polyhedrons, nanorods and nanoplates. By tuning the amount of NaOH and ligands (oleic acid and octadecylamine), we can finely tailor the shapes and sizes of LaF3 nanocrystals. Three prepared LaF3 nanostructures were well characterized, followed by a series of control experiments to propose a mechanism for the shape control. Based on the success in materials synthesis, controlled patterning of LaF3 nanoplates on substrates has also been achieved. After Yb/Er or Yb/Tm was co-doped in these LaF3 nanostructures, they could serve as nanoparticulate host matrices to give strong upconversion luminescence, showing great potential in biomedical applications considering their small sizes and well-defined shapes.
3D-printing technology can be used to construct personalized bone substitutes with customized shapes, but it cannot regulate the topological morphology of the scaffold surface, which plays a vital role in regulating the biological behaviors of stem cells. In addition, stem cells are able to sense the topographical and mechanical cues of surface of scaffolds by mechanosensing and mechanotransduction. In our study, we fabricated a 3D-printed poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) scaffold with a nanotopographical surface and loaded it with urine-derived stem cells (USCs) for application of bone regeneration. The topological 3D-printed PCL scaffolds (TPS) fabricated by surface epiphytic crystallization, possessed uniformly patterned nanoridges, of which the element composition and functional groups of nanoridges were the same as PCL. Compared with bare 3D-printed PCL scaffolds (BPS), TPS have a higher ability for protein adsorption and mineralization in vitro. The proliferation, cell length, and osteogenic gene expression of USCs on the surface of TPS were significantly higher than that of BPS. In addition, the TPS loaded with USCs exhibited a good ability for bone regeneration in cranial bone defects. Our study demonstrated that nanotopographical 3D-printed scaffolds loaded with USCs are a safe and effective therapeutic strategy for bone regeneration.
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