Lee Se-Hwan, Lee Jaeyeon, Kang Nae-Un, Cho Yong Sang, Heo Su Chin, Park Yongdoo, Cho Young-Sam
McKay Orthopaedic Research Laboratory, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Medicine, Korea University, 73 Inchon-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, 02841, Republic of Korea.
Sci Rep. 2025 Apr 4;15(1):11542. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-96027-1.
With an increasing incidence of orthopedic fractures due to the growing aging population, the demand for novel bone tissue engineering treatments is rising. Existing biopolymeric scaffolds have hierarchical structure, are biocompatible, and are biodegradable, but struggle to control pore size and interconnectivity, essential features to regulate cell alignment and mechanobiological signaling. This highlights the need to design a biopolymeric scaffold with well-defined hierarchical structure and optimized surface properties to improve bone regeneration. To accomplish this, we proposed a grid-in-grid manufacturing approach and fabricated a solvent-free 3D polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffold with hierarchical pores using precision extruding deposition (PED) 3D printing technology. The fabricated scaffolds exhibit both global pores and multi-scale local pores. Notably, using in vitro cultured human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs), controlled local pore size induced contact guidance and pore bridging, and the surface roughness of global strands effectively led to cell alignment. This study demonstrates that precision 3D printing technology can directly manipulate local pore structures to control cell migration and alignment. Furthermore, it could be applied for combined bone to connective tissue regeneration, where gradient pore structures and cell alignment are essential. Our scaffold has the potential to serve as a customizable platform for advanced tissue engineering applications.
随着人口老龄化加剧导致骨科骨折发病率上升，对新型骨组织工程治疗的需求也在增加。现有的生物聚合物支架具有分级结构、生物相容性和可生物降解性，但难以控制孔径和连通性，而这是调节细胞排列和机械生物学信号的关键特征。这凸显了设计一种具有明确分级结构和优化表面特性的生物聚合物支架以促进骨再生的必要性。为实现这一目标，我们提出了一种网格嵌套制造方法，并使用精密挤出沉积（PED）3D打印技术制造了一种具有分级孔结构的无溶剂3D聚己内酯（PCL）支架。所制造的支架具有整体孔和多尺度局部孔。值得注意的是，使用体外培养的人间充质干细胞（hMSCs），可控的局部孔径诱导了接触导向和孔桥接，而整体支架条的表面粗糙度有效地导致了细胞排列。这项研究表明，精密3D打印技术可以直接操纵局部孔结构来控制细胞迁移和排列。此外，它可应用于骨与结缔组织联合再生，其中梯度孔结构和细胞排列至关重要。我们的支架有潜力作为高级组织工程应用的可定制平台。
