Mechanical properties and cell-culture characteristics of a polycaprolactone kagome-structure scaffold fabricated by a precision extruding deposition system

Abstract

To enhance the mechanical properties of three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds used for bone regeneration in tissue engineering, many researchers have studied their structure and chemistry. In the structural engineering field, the kagome structure has been known to have an excellent relative strength. In this study, to enhance the mechanical properties of a synthetic polymer scaffold used for tissue engineering, we applied the 3D kagome structure to a porous scaffold for bone regeneration. Prior to fabricating the biocompatible-polymer scaffold, the ideal kagome structure, which was manufactured by a 3D printer of the digital light processing type, was compared with a grid-structure, which was used as the control group, using a compressive experiment. A polycaprolactone (PCL) kagome-structure scaffold was successfully fabricated by additive manufacturing using a 3D printer with a precision extruding deposition head. To assess the physical characteristics of the fabricated PCL-kagome-structure scaffold, we analyzed its porosity, pore size, morphological structure, surface roughness, compressive stiffness, and mechanical bending properties. The results showed that, the mechanical properties of proposed kagome-structure scaffold were superior to those of a grid-structure scaffold. Moreover, Sarcoma osteogenic (Saos-2) cells were used to evaluate the characteristics of in vitro cell proliferation. We carried out cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) and DNA contents assays. Consequently, the cell proliferation of the kagome-structure scaffold was increased; this could be because the surface roughness of the kagome-structure scaffold enhances initial cell attachment.

Influence of High, Disperse API Load on Properties along the Fused-Layer Modeling Process Chain of Solid Dosage Forms

“…Few approaches use direct melt extrusion of polymer-API powder blends [10,11]. However, most FLM machines use polymer wires, so-called filaments, as source material [1].…”

Fabrication of Polycaprolactone/Nano Hydroxyapatite (PCL/nHA) 3D Scaffold with Enhanced In Vitro Cell Response via Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM)

“…To determine the actual amount of nHA particles in the fabricated scaffold, the weight ratio of the residual material at 600 °C was measured using a thermal gravimetric analyzer (TA Instruments, New Castle, DE, USA). For each scaffold type, the average value for three scaffolds was calcu- ratio for the fabricated scaffold (Supplementary Figure S3) [28]. The 3D dual-pore ka-gome-structure scaffold, possessing a numerical compressive modulus similar to that of a 3D scaffold with a conventional pattern at the same pore size, is defined by the following parameters: dimensions = 5 × 5 × 3.6 mm 3 , porosity = 60%, pore size = 500 μm, and strand size = 1.4 mm (Figure 1a and Table 1).…”

“…The 3D-printing pathways were generated from the STL files of the designed 3D scaffold using an open-source STL-generating program (Slic3r, Rome, Italy). ratio for the fabricated scaffold (Supplementary Figure S3) [28]. The 3D dual-pore kagome-structure scaffold, possessing a numerical compressive modulus similar to that of a 3D scaffold with a conventional pattern at the same pore size, is defined by the following parameters: dimensions = 5 × 5 × 3.6 mm 3 , porosity = 60%, pore size = 500 μm, and strand size = 1.4 mm (Figure 1a and Table 1).…”

“…Furthermore, the in vitro cell response of the 3D-printed scaffold with a kagome structure improved compared with the 3D-printed scaffold with the conventional pattern at the same pore size and porosity. This is because the cell-seeding efficiency of the 3D-printed scaffold with a kagome structure was increased by the complex structure compared to the 3D-printed scaffold with the conventional pattern [ 28 ].…”

Evaluation of the Antibacterial Activity and Cell Response for 3D-Printed Polycaprolactone/Nanohydroxyapatite Scaffold with Zinc Oxide Coating

“…Recently, studies have focused on fabricating bone-regenerating scaffolds with various functions with the use of 3D-printing technique. In our previous studies, a 3D-printed polycaprolactone/nanohydroxyapatite (PCL/nHA) scaffold with kagome structure was proposed to enhance the 3D-printed scaffold’s mechanical property [ 30 , 31 ]. In this study, we developed a 3D-printed kagome-composite (PCL/nHA) scaffold with an anti-bacterial zinc oxide coating with the use of a sputtering system to prevent surgical site infections.…”