Comparative evaluation of 3D polycaprolactone scaffolds fabricated by 3D printing and salt leaching methods

Introduction: Designing a three-dimensional ideal scaffold has been one of the main goals in tissue engineering, and various mechanical techniques have been applied to fabricate scaffolds used for tissue regeneration. Scaffolds should be biodegradable and biocompatible, provide temporary support for cell growth to allow cell adhesion, and consist of a defined structure that can be formed into customized shapes by a computer-aided design system. The formation of new tissue is affected by the porosity, pore size, and 3-D structure of the scaffold; a large pore structure is formed to deliver adequate number of cells, and the interconnected pore allows for the easy diffusion of nutrients. Biomaterials and methods of scaffold fabrication have a crucial role in tissue engineering. New 3D Printing technology has the potential to solve these problems.Materials and Methods: In this study, PCL scaffold was designed and printed with interconnecting pores by using the Bioplotter devices as novel method and compared with PCL scaffold that fabricated by salt leaching as a traditional method of scaffold fabrication. MTT assay, water absorption, scanning electron microscopy and dynamic mechanical analysis were used to characterize the mechanical properties of the resulting scaffolds.Results: The water absorption of the 3D printed scaffold was higher than those of the conventional salt-leaching scaffolds. The 3D printed scaffold presented a high compressive modulus and cell viability that was suitable for cell ingrowth compare with salt-leached scaffolds. The porosities of the conventional salt-leaching and 3D printed scaffolds were 72.43±1.75% and 59.35±0.55% respectively.Conclusions: The 3D printed polycaprolactone scaffolds had the obvious advantage that their mechanical properties compared to the salt-leached scaffolds. The scaffolds fabricated by the 3-D printed method were formed to induce cell penetration for cell ingrowth. The 3D printed scaffold was more suitable for cell ingrowth than a salt-leached scaffold.

کلیدواژه ها:

polycaprolactone ، 3D printing ، salt-leaching ، scaffold ، tissue engineering