Abstract
The low cellular activity of poly-l-lactic acid (PLLA) limits its application in bone scaffold, although PLLA has advantages in terms of good biocompatibility and easy processing. In this study, superparamagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles were incorporated into the PLLA bone scaffold prepared by selective laser sintering (SLS) for continuously and steadily enhancing cellular activity. In the scaffold, each Fe3O4 nanoparticle was a single magnetic domain without a domain wall, providing a micro-magnetic source to generate a tiny magnetic field, thereby continuously and steadily generating magnetic stimulation to cells. The results showed that the magnetic scaffold exhibited superparamagnetism and its saturation magnetization reached a maximum value of 6.1 emu/g. It promoted the attachment, diffusion, and interaction of MG63 cells, and increased the activity of alkaline phosphatase, thus promoting the cell proliferation and differentiation. Meanwhile, the scaffold with 7% Fe3O4 presented increased compressive strength, modulus, and Vickers hardness by 63.4%, 78.9%, and 19.1% compared with the PLLA scaffold, respectively, due to the addition of Fe3O4 nanoparticles, which act as a nanoscale reinforcement in the polymer matrix. All these positive results suggested that the PLLA/Fe3O4 scaffold with good magnetic properties is of great potential for bone tissue engineering applications.
Highlights
Poly-l-lactic acid (PLLA) has become one of the main bone scaffold materials due to its advantages of good biocompatibility and easy processing [1,2,3]
Taking into account the above characteristics, we suppose that the incorporation of superparamagnetic Fe3 O4 nanoparticles into the bone scaffold makes it possible for them to generate a large number of tiny magnetic fields in the scaffold, which can activate and enhance cell activity continuously and steadily through magnetic stimulation
Fe3 O4 nanoparticles were incorporated into PLLA scaffold via selective laser sintering (SLS) to continuously and stably enhance the cellular activity
Summary
Poly-l-lactic acid (PLLA) has become one of the main bone scaffold materials due to its advantages of good biocompatibility and easy processing [1,2,3]. Researches have shown that physical stimulation, especially magnetic stimulation, can continuously stimulate cell growth and proliferation, and it can be used as an alternative method to increase the cellular activity of bone scaffold [15,16,17]. Taking into account the above characteristics, we suppose that the incorporation of superparamagnetic Fe3 O4 nanoparticles into the bone scaffold makes it possible for them to generate a large number of tiny magnetic fields in the scaffold, which can activate and enhance cell activity continuously and steadily through magnetic stimulation. Fe3 O4 nanoparticles were incorporated into PLLA scaffold via selective laser sintering (SLS) to continuously and stably enhance the cellular activity. The effects of the magnetic composite scaffolds on the adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation of MG63 cells are studied, discussed, and explained
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