Abstract
A scaffold for bone tissue engineering should have highly interconnected porous structure, appropriate mechanical and biological properties. In this work, we fabricated well-interconnected porous β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) scaffolds via selective laser sintering (SLS). We found that the mechanical and biological properties of the scaffolds were improved by doping of zinc oxide (ZnO). Our data showed that the fracture toughness increased from 1.09 to 1.40 MPam1/2, and the compressive strength increased from 3.01 to 17.89 MPa when the content of ZnO increased from 0 to 2.5 wt%. It is hypothesized that the increase of ZnO would lead to a reduction in grain size and an increase in density of the strut. However, the fracture toughness and compressive strength decreased with further increasing of ZnO content, which may be due to the sharp increase in grain size. The biocompatibility of the scaffolds was investigated by analyzing the adhesion and the morphology of human osteoblast-like MG-63 cells cultured on the surfaces of the scaffolds. The scaffolds exhibited better and better ability to support cell attachment and proliferation when the content of ZnO increased from 0 to 2.5 wt%. Moreover, a bone like apatite layer formed on the surfaces of the scaffolds after incubation in simulated body fluid (SBF), indicating an ability of osteoinduction and osteoconduction. In summary, interconnected porous β-TCP scaffolds doped with ZnO were successfully fabricated and revealed good mechanical and biological properties, which may be used for bone repair and replacement potentially.
Highlights
Scaffold plays an important role in cells attachment, proliferation and guidance of new bone tissue formation in bone tissue engineering [1,2]
The stiffness of the porous scaffold with 50.9% porosity was 0.20–0.24 MPa. These results revealed that zinc oxide (ZnO) could improve fracture toughness, compressive strength, stiffness and hardness of the scaffolds
Interconnected porous b-tricalcium phosphate (b-TCP) scaffolds improved by ZnO were successfully prepared with selective laser sintering (SLS) technique
Summary
Scaffold plays an important role in cells attachment, proliferation and guidance of new bone tissue formation in bone tissue engineering [1,2]. Interconnected porous structure and customized shape for specific bone defects are essential for ideal bone scaffold. Though porous scaffold with sufficient void volumes and surface area can be obtained by some conventional methods including freeze drying, gas foaming, solvent casting, and so on [3,4,5], it is difficult to realize the precise control of the pore size, pore geometry and spatial distribution or the ability to construction of internal interconnected pore network [6,7,8]. The sintering process is guided by the computer aided design (CAD) model and computer control [9,10]. By this technique, the bone scaffolds with well-controlled internal architectures and customized external shapes can be well realized [11]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
