Xulin Hu, Hu Li, Liang Qiao, Shuhao Yang, Haoming Wu, Chao Peng, Yamei Zhang, Hai Lan, Hua Yang, Kainan Li
Clinical Medical College and Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu University, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610081, China.
The First Affiliated Hospital, and College of Clinical Medicine of Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471003, China.
Int J Bioprint. 2023 Jan 19;9(2):673. doi: 10.18063/ijb.v9i2.673. eCollection 2023.
Human bone is composed of cortical bone and cancellous bone. The interior portion of natural bone is cancellous with a porosity of 50%-90%, but the outer layer is made of dense cortical bone, of which porosity was not higher than 10%. Porous ceramics were expected to be research hotspot in bone tissue engineering by virtue of their similarity to the mineral constituent and physiological structure of human bone. However, it is challenging to utilize conventional manufacturing methods to fabricate porous structures with precise shapes and pore sizes. Three-dimensional (3D) printing of ceramics is currently the latest research trend because it has many advantages in the fabrication of porous scaffolds, which can meet the requirements of cancellous bone strength, arbitrarily complex shapes, and individualized design. In this study, β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP)/titanium dioxide (TiO) porous ceramics scaffolds were fabricated by 3D gel-printing sintering for the first time. The chemical constituent, microstructure, and mechanical properties of the 3D-printed scaffolds were characterized. After sintering, a uniform porous structure with appropriate porosity and pore sizes was observed. Besides, biological mineralization activity and biocompatibility were evaluated by cell assay. The results demonstrated that the incorporation of TiO (5 wt%) significantly improved the compressive strength of the scaffolds, with an increase of 283%. Additionally, the results showed that the β-TCP/TiO scaffold had no toxicity. Meanwhile, the adhesion and proliferation of MC3T3-E1 cells on scaffolds were desirable, revealing that the β-TCP/TiO scaffolds can be used as a promising candidate for repair scaffolding in orthopedics and traumatology.
人体骨骼由皮质骨和松质骨组成。天然骨的内部是松质骨，孔隙率为50%-90%，但其外层由致密的皮质骨构成，其孔隙率不高于10%。多孔陶瓷因其与人体骨骼的矿物质成分和生理结构相似，有望成为骨组织工程的研究热点。然而，利用传统制造方法制造具有精确形状和孔径的多孔结构具有挑战性。陶瓷的三维（3D）打印是目前最新的研究趋势，因为它在多孔支架的制造方面具有许多优势，可以满足松质骨强度、任意复杂形状和个性化设计的要求。在本研究中，首次通过3D凝胶打印烧结制备了β-磷酸三钙（β-TCP）/二氧化钛（TiO₂）多孔陶瓷支架。对3D打印支架的化学成分、微观结构和力学性能进行了表征。烧结后，观察到具有适当孔隙率和孔径的均匀多孔结构。此外，通过细胞试验评估了生物矿化活性和生物相容性。结果表明，加入TiO₂（5 wt%）显著提高了支架的抗压强度，提高了283%。此外，结果表明β-TCP/TiO₂支架没有毒性。同时，MC3T3-E1细胞在支架上的粘附和增殖情况良好，表明β-TCP/TiO₂支架可作为骨科和创伤学中修复支架的有前途的候选材料。
