Fabrication and Performance Study of Biomimetic Multi-material Osteochondral Scaffold

Abstract

Both Cartilage restoration and mechanical environment recovery are still difficult issues for repairing large osteochondral defect, an innovative biomimetic PEG(polyethylene glyco) / PLA(Polylactide) / β-TCP(β-Tricalcium phosphate) multi-material reinforced osteochondral scaffold is designed and fabricated. On the basis of the sheep knee model reconstructed by CT scan data, biomimetic multi-material osteochondral scaffold is structurally designed. It includes a porous structure and PLA anchor and biomimetic cartilage structure. Integration technology of 3D printing and vacuum perfusion is carried out to fabricate multi-material reinforced osteochondral scaffold under the condition of temperature 220 ℃, vacuum degree are –0.08 to–0.10 Pa. The scaffold morphology observations show that the PLA can completely fill the secondary pipe by vacuum perfusion method, mechanical tests found that the compressive strength of the composite scaffolds(21.25 MPa± 1.15 MPa) is 2.17 times than that of a single-pipe porous ceramic scaffold(9.76 MPa± 0.64 MPa);shear test results show that the shear strength of PLA anchor(16.24 MPa ± 1.85 MPa) is 18.7 times than that of ceramic anchor(0.87 MPa± 0.14 MPa). Therefore, mechanical strength and fixing performance of osteochondral scaffold has been significantly enhanced by perfusion of PLA, which provides a promising treatment for large osteochondral defects.