Chinese researchers continue to take on the challenge of bone regeneration in tissue engineering, sharing their findings in the recently released ‘3D printing of Haversian bone—mimicking scaffolds for multicellular delivery in bone regeneration.’
The fabrication of scaffolds is at the center of successful bone regeneration, but this is an area of medicine that is still known to be difficult—despite a wide range of research projects performed already, from using variations in nanotubes to structures with controlled antibiotic release, alternative materials and coatings.
As the authors point out, while bioprinting is an area of medical research where scientists have made huge strides, there are several reasons that obstacles remain:
- Complexity of hierarchical structures
- Mechanical property requirements
- Diversity of bone resident cells
Most regeneration occurs in cancellous bone, however, so this is what researchers must focus on for success in treating patients:
“Cancellous bone is a meshwork consisting of plate-like or rod-like structures at about 200-mm thickness,” explained the authors. “By one estimate, 80 percent of bone remodeling processes occur in cancellous bone. However, bone regeneration not only needs to reconstruct bone structure but also involves repairing other tissues like blood vessels or nerves.”
Biomimetic structures are showing great potential as ‘high-performance bone tissue engineering biomaterials,’ however, leading the research team to focus on the use of 3D printed Haversian bioceramic structures which can imitate bone in a ‘simple but versatile design.’
Due to superior osteoconductivity and osteoinductivity, materials composed of akermanite were used in fabrication of five samples with varying measurements in canals and cancellous bone serving as meshwork.
“Interconnected Haversian canals were isolated from the cancellous bone structure for noncontact cell coculture,” stated the researchers. “Furthermore, the periphery and bottom of the scaffolds were sealed so that the scaffolds could be used for holding the seeded cells.”
Several different techniques were necessary in creating the scaffolds, to include using electrospinning and twin-screw extrusion, modular tissue engineering, and 3D printing. The team had the most success with DLP 3D printing, designing a series of structures with Haversian canals, Volkmann canals, and cancellous bone.
“Here, we further established the Haversian bone–mimicking scaffold–based rBMSC-rSC coculture system with rBMSCs grown in cancellous bone structure and rSCs grown on Haversian canals. Our results indicated that the rBMSC-rSC coculture system exhibited a better proliferation and a higher expression of NGF, BDNF, TrkA, and S100 as compared to rSC monoculture,” concluded the researchers. “It was found that BMSCs could promote SC proliferation and were traditionally used to facilitate the recovery of sensory system.
“Considering the clinical applications of Haversian bone–mimicking scaffolds, there are still some issues to be studied. First, more bone-resident cells such as osteoblasts, osteoclasts, and macrophages should be further considered in the coculture system. The mechanism of multicellular synergistic effects is not fully understood. Further studies are needed to identify the individual effects of coculture cells on the formation of new bone, blood vessels, and nerves in the Haversian bone–mimicking scaffold–based coculture system.”
What do you think of this news? Let us know your thoughts! Join the discussion of this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com.[Source / Images: ‘3D printing of Haversian bone—mimicking scaffolds for multicellular delivery in bone regeneration’]
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