3D printed polymer–mineral composite biomaterials for bone tissue engineering: Fabrication and characterization

Abstract

Applications in additive manufacturing technologies for bone tissue engineering applications requires the development of new biomaterials formulations. Different three‐dimensional (3D) printing technologies can be used and polymers are commonly employed to fabricate 3D printed bone scaffolds. However, these materials used alone do not possess an effective osteopromotive potential for bone regeneration. A growing number of studies report the combination of polymers with minerals in order to improve their bioactivity. This review exposes the state‐of‐the‐art of existing 3D printed composite biomaterials combining polymers and minerals for bone tissue engineering. Characterization techniques to assess scaffold properties are also discussed. Several parameters must be considered to fabricate a 3D printed material for bone repair (3D printing method, type of polymer/mineral combination and ratio) because all of them affect final properties of the material. Each polymer and mineral has its own advantages and drawbacks and numerous composites are described in the literature. Each component of these composite materials brings specific properties and their combination can improve the biological integration of the 3D printed scaffold. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater 107B:2579–2595, 2019.

Nanostructured Biomaterials for Bone Regeneration

“…The need for more precise control of porosity and pore size within scaffold materials has prompted the implementation of novel 3D printing systems which may offer such capabilities. 3D printing technologies such as fused deposition modeling, stereolithography, and selective laser sintering have enabled the production of scaffolds with greater spatial resolution and fidelity than traditional fabrication methods, while also offering the ability to introduce precise pore gradients which more effectively mimic the physical cues for growth found in native bone tissue (Bracaglia et al, 2017;Alehosseini et al, 2018;Malikmammadov et al, 2018;Babilotte et al, 2019). While 3D printing approaches to the design of scaffolds for bone tissue engineering are quite new and still being explored for their utility, they also offer strong potential for the 3D patterning of surface roughness and other key physical features, providing even further recapitulation of the native cues present in bone (Murphy and Atala, 2014).…”

The status and challenges of replicating the mechanical properties of connective tissues using additive manufacturing

“…Common biocompatible materials for SLS include metals such as titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) and cobalt chromium molybdenum alloy (Co-Cr-Mo) as well as biocompatible polymers such as polyetheretherketone (PEEK) (Bertol et al, 2010;Elsayed et al, 2019;Vandenbroucke and Kruth, 2007). SLS can also be used to fabricate polymer-bioceramic scaffolds, in which the polymer forms the matrix and the bioceramic particles impact reinforcement and biointegration capacity (Babilotte et al, 2019). Bioceramic scaffolds are also manufacturable through the addition of low melting point polymer or glass powder to the bioceramic powder.…”

Stem Cell-Friendly Scaffold Biomaterials: Applications for Bone Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine

“…Biomaterials represent the basic components of the scaffolds and serve a critical function in BTE. An ideal scaffold material should be biocompatible, biodegradable, osteoconductive, osteoinductive, and possess favorable mechanical properties (Babilotte et al, 2019;. Biomaterials used as scaffolds in BTE can be divided into the following categories: Ceramics, natural/synthetic polymers and decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) or composites of the above (Kim et al, 2019;Rustom et al, 2019;Udomluck et al, 2019;Rothrauff and Tuan, 2020).…”