Design of 3D Additive Manufactured Hybrid Scaffolds for Periodontal Repair Strategies.

: Nonconventional fabrication technologies (, additive manufacturing and 3D bioprinting) represent a challenging approach to the design of 3D scaffolds as extracellular matrix analogues with appropriate properties for supporting cell behavior over time. : A strategy to develop 3D additive manufactured hybrid scaffolds with dual porosity and tailored morphological and mechanical/functional features was proposed the combination of synthetic (poly-ε-caprolactone) and natural (chitosan) polymers. Design of 3D additive manufactured hybrid scaffolds, morphological analysis, swelling and degradation measurements, mechanical measurements, antimicrobial assays against both oral cavity-specific and nonoral bacteria, and biological assays using periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs) or human osteosarcoma cells (MG63) were carried out. : The inclusion of the chitosan network improves the dimensional stability of the structure as well as the cell retention effect, ensuring antimicrobial activity. : The current study represents a first step for future complex works with the aim of studying the effect of the inclusion of chitosan network in a 3D porous multifunctional structure obtained additive manufacturing technologies, also taking into account the possibility of modulating the mechanical behavior, adopting two different swelling and degradation rates in order to tune drug/protein/gene delivery over time, and thus tailoring the tissue regeneration process and the health of the oral microbiota.