3D-printed polycaprolactone-magnetic nanoparticles composite multifunctional scaffolds for bone tissue regeneration and hyperthermia treatment

Abstract

Cancer management after tumor resection is characterized by two critical needs: (i) rehabilitation of the resected tissue and (ii) preventing post-surgical tumor recurrence by destroying any residual tumors. The state of the art in literature is limited because it tackles these two major priorities individually, it achieves tissue regeneration via autologous grafting and prevents tumor recurrence through chemotherapy. In this paper, extrusion 3D printing has been employed to manufacture composite multi-functional scaffolds with polycaprolactone (PCL) as a polymeric matrix and magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) in a 0 to 50 wt% ratio, that would aid in bone regeneration and cancer management via magnetic hyperthermia treatment. The fabricated scaffolds were evaluated for their mechanical, magnetic and thermal characteristics. The Young’s modulus of the scaffolds increased multi-fold with increasing concentration of MNPs added to PCL (26.88±9.02 MPa for pure PCL to 229.06±37.05 MPa for PCL/50 wt% MNP scaffolds). PCL/MNP scaffolds displayed a directly proportional correlation between MNP concentration and saturation magnetization. While the in vitro tests showed a statistically significant cell growth of human Mesenchymal Stem Cells (hMSCs) over 7 days for all MNP concentrations, only the 50% MNP scaffold showed an increase in temperature over 41oC when subjected to an alternating magnetic field making it suitable for the hyperthermia treatment. On application of alternating magnetic fields to PCL and PCL/50 wt% MNP scaffolds, there was an increase in hMSCs proliferation and decrease in Bone cancer cells proliferation, thus proving the potential to be used as a multi-functional scaffold for post-surgical bone cancer management.