Mandibular reconstruction after trauma or pathology is one of the cornerstones of oral and maxillofacial surgery. 1 This reconstruction is needed in cases with a large amount of bone loss, comminute fractures, severe traumas, and infections leading to multiple bone sequestrations. 2 In the case of infections of the bone, different risk factors may enhance the speed in which the bone is lost, such as age, sex, poor oral hygiene, comorbidities (diabetes, hyperlipemia, autoimmune diseases), and drug abuse (cocaine, cannabinoid, tobacco smoking, hepatic cirrhosis due alcoholism). [3][4][5][6][7][8] The four basic principles of successful reconstruction are (a) establish an ideal orthognathic relationship; (b) a flush bone to graft/flap contact; (c) stable bony fixation; and (d) adequate, well-vascularized soft tissue coverage. 1 To achieve the previously established principles, the maxillofacial literature describes different surgical treatment
The design of scaffolds to reach similar three-dimensional structures mimicking the natural and fibrous environment of some cells is a challenge for tissue engineering, and 3D-printing and electrospinning highlights from other techniques in the production of scaffolds. The former is a well-known additive manufacturing technique devoted to the production of custom-made structures with mechanical properties similar to tissues and bones found in the human body, but lacks the resolution to produce small and interconnected structures. The latter is a well-studied technique to produce materials possessing a fibrillar structure, having the advantage of producing materials with tuned composition compared with a 3D-print. Taking the advantage that commercial 3D-printers work with polylactide (PLA) based filaments, a biocompatible and biodegradable polymer, in this work we produce PLA-based composites by blending materials obtained by 3D-printing and electrospinning. Porous PLA fibers have been obtained by the electrospinning of recovered PLA from 3D-printer filaments, tuning the mechanical properties by blending PLA with small amounts of polyethylene glycol and hydroxyapatite. A composite has been obtained by blending two layers of 3D-printed pieces with a central mat of PLA fibers. The composite presented a reduced storage modulus as compared with a single 3D-print piece and possessing similar mechanical properties to bone tissues. Furthermore, the biocompatibility of the composites is assessed by a simulated body fluid assay and by culturing composites with 3T3 fibroblasts. We observed that all these composites induce the growing and attaching of fibroblast over the surface of a 3D-printed layer and in the fibrous layer, showing the potential of commercial 3D-printers and filaments to produce scaffolds to be used in bone tissue engineering.
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