Electrospun/3D-printed PCL bioactive scaffold for bone regeneration

When manufacturing scaffolds that will be used in tissue engineering of the bone system, three properties need to be considered: (1) The biodegradation times. (2) The mechanical properties and structure of the scaffold must emulate that of the bone. (3) The biocompatibility of the scaffold with bone cells. In this work, a scaffold is obtained in the shape of a rabbit tibia using a 3D-printer with commercial polycaprolactone of medium molecular mass. Then, the scaffold is covered by electrospinning with a layer of synthesized polycaprolactone of low molecular mass. 3D-printing mimics the tissue structure in a rabbit tibia bone. Polycaprolactone is hydrophobic polymer that stops cells from adhering to the scaffold. To improve cell adhesion, gelatin molecules were grafted onto the polycaprolactone. The scaffolds were characterized with FTIR, SEM, capillary viscometry, DSC, contact angle, accelerated degradation, and DMA. The cytotoxic evaluation was carried out on scaffolds in which we used human adipose stem cells, the addition of gelatin improved cell viability. The results of the cytotoxic tests showed viability and proliferation of cells when they were seeded on the scaffolds and were evaluated on different days. Additionally, an evaluation was conducted to determine whether the scaffolds allowed for the differentiation of cells into an osteogenic lineage, when the cells were cultured with an osteoinductive medium. At 21 days, the presence of calcium nodules stained with Alizarin Red and black nodules of calcium phosphate particles stained with von Kossa was demonstrated.