Department of Biomechatronic Engineering, College of Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Suwon, South Korea.
Powder and Ceramics Division, Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS), Changwon, South Korea.
Sci Rep. 2017 Jun 9;7(1):3166. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-03461-x.
Nano/microfibrous structure can induce high cellular activities because of the topological similarity of the extracellular matrix, and thus, are widely used in various tissue regenerative materials. However, the fabrication of a bioceramic (high weight percent)-based 3D microfibrous structure is extremely difficult because of the low process-ability of bioceramics. In addition, three-dimensional (3D) microfibrous structure can induce more realistic cellular behavior when compared to that of 2D fibrous structure. Hence, the requirement of a 3D fibrous ceramic-based structure is an important issue in bioceramic scaffolds. In this study, a bioceramic (α-TCP)-based scaffold in which the weight fraction of the ceramic exceeded 70% was fabricated using an electrohydrodynamic printing (EHDP) process. The fabricated ceramic structure consisted of layer-by-layered struts entangled with polycaprolactone microfibers and the bioceramic phase. Various processing conditions (such as applied electric field, flow rate, nozzle size, and weight fraction of the bioceramic) were manipulated to obtain an optimal processing window. A 3D printed porous structure was used as a control, which had pore geometry similar to that of a structure fabricated using the EHDP process. Various physical and cellular activities using preosteoblasts (MC3T3-E1) helped confirm that the newly designed bioceramic scaffold demonstrated significantly high metabolic activity and mineralization.
纳米/微纤维结构由于与细胞外基质的拓扑相似性而能诱导高细胞活性，因此被广泛应用于各种组织再生材料中。然而，由于生物陶瓷的加工性能低，制造基于生物陶瓷（高重量百分比）的 3D 微纤维结构极其困难。此外，与 2D 纤维结构相比，3D 微纤维结构可以诱导更真实的细胞行为。因此，对基于 3D 纤维陶瓷结构的需求是生物陶瓷支架中的一个重要问题。在本研究中，使用静电纺丝印刷（EHDP）工艺制造了一种陶瓷重量分数超过 70%的基于生物陶瓷（α-TCP）的支架。所制造的陶瓷结构由与聚己内酯微纤维和生物陶瓷相纠缠的层层支柱组成。各种加工条件（如施加的电场、流速、喷嘴尺寸和生物陶瓷的重量分数）被操纵以获得最佳的加工窗口。使用 3D 打印多孔结构作为对照，其孔几何形状与使用 EHDP 工艺制造的结构相似。使用前成骨细胞（MC3T3-E1）进行的各种物理和细胞活性测试证实，新设计的生物陶瓷支架表现出显著的高代谢活性和矿化。
