DEVELOPMENT OF POLYMER 3D PRINTED SCAFFOLDS FOR BONE TISSUE REGENERATION

RUIZ ARIAS IGNACIO; GAITAN, ANA MARÍA; VASALLO, MARIANO; AGUILAR, JORGE ; BALAÑA, MARIA EUGENIA; LEIROS, GUSTAVO JOSÉ

Buenos Aires

Congreso; REUNIÓN ANUAL DE SOCIEDADES DE BIOCIENCIAS SAIC;SAFIS ; ALACF; 2024

SOCIEDAD ARGENTINA DE INVESTIGACIÓN CLÍNICA (SAIC)

Introduction: The regenerative capacity of bone tissue is limited in extensive or pathological injuries. The transplantation of living bone tissue is a limited surgical procedure. Metallic or ceramic implants have limitations related to load, rejection, and high costs. Bioengineered bone substitutes emerge as a new therapeutic strategy. They must be osteoconductive/osteoinductive and require a 3D structure like the extracellular matrix of bone tissue. 3D printing allows thedesign and production of complex biomedical scaffolds with controlled microstructures using CT images of bone lesions. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate design parameters affecting the mechanical and structural properties of polylactic acid (PLA) and polycaprolactone (PCL) constructs fabricated via 3D printing to serve as scaffolds for bone tissue substitutes. Materials & Methods: PLA and PCL scaffolds were fabricated using a fused deposition printer.Technical-grade filaments were used according to the manufacturer’s recommended printing temperature. The design comprised a square prism, with square pore sizes ranging from 300-900 μm. The printer nozzle was 0.1 mm in diameter, and the flow speed was varied between 0.1 mm/s and 0.2 mm/s. Porosity was determined by measuring void volume, and compression was evaluated using the standardized ASTM D695-15 method. Results: The porosity for PLAand PCL scaffolds range from 56-86% and 77-47% respectively and decrease with increasing flow speed. Both average compression moduli and ultimate compressive strength obtained in PLA and PCL was within the range of mandibular trabecular bone without cortical planes as referenced in the literature and increase with decreasing pore size. Conclusions: These results demonstrated that the porosity and compressive moduli obtained with the PCL or PLA scaffolds, designed in this study, were comparable to those of trabecular bone. Therefore, these scaffolds should be useful for fabricating cell-free bone substitutes.