No abstract

The present study provides a solvent-free processing method for establishing the ideal porous 3-dimension (3D) scaffold filled with different ratios of calcium silicate-based (CS) powder and polycaprolactone (PCL) for 3D bone substitute application. Characterization of hybrid scaffolds developed underwent assessments for physicochemical properties and biodegradation. Adhesion and growth of human Wharton's Jelly mesenchymal stem cells (WJMSCs) on the CS/PCL blended scaffold were investigated in vitro. Cell attachment and morphology were examined by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and confocal microscope observations. Colorimetric assay was tested for assessing cell metabolic activity. In addition, RT-qPCR was also performed for the osteogenic-related and angiogenesis-related gene expression. As a result, the hydrophilicity of the scaffolds was further significantly improved after we additive CS into PCL, as well as the compressive strength up to 5.8 MPa. SEM showed that a great amount of precipitated bone-like apatite formed on the scaffold surface after immersed in the simulated body fluid. The 3D-printed scaffolds were found to enhance cell adhesion, proliferation and differentiation. Additionally, results of osteogenesis and angiogenesis proteins were expressed obviously greater in the response of WJMSCs. These results indicate the CS/PCL composite exhibited a favorable bioactivity and osteoconductive properties that could be served as a promising biomaterial for bone tissue engineering scaffolds.

Currently, clinically available orthopedic implants are extremely biocompatible but they lack specific biological characteristics that allow for further interaction with surrounding tissues. The extracellular matrix (ECM)-coated scaffolds have received considerable interest for bone regeneration due to their ability in upregulating regenerative cellular behaviors. This study delves into the designing and fabrication of three-dimensional (3D)-printed scaffolds that were made out of calcium silicate (CS), polycaprolactone (PCL), and decellularized ECM (dECM) from MG63 cells, generating a promising bone tissue engineering strategy that revolves around the concept of enhancing osteogenesis by creating an osteoinductive microenvironment with osteogenesis-promoting dECM. We cultured MG63 on scaffolds to obtain a dECM-coated CS/PCL scaffold and further studied the biological performance of the dECM hybrid scaffolds. The results indicated that the dECM-coated CS/PCL scaffolds exhibited excellent biocompatibility and effectively enhanced cellular adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation of human Wharton’s Jelly mesenchymal stem cells by increasing the expression of osteogenic-related genes. They also presented anti-inflammatory characteristics by showing a decrease in the expression of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-1 (IL-1). Histological analysis of in vivo experiments presented excellent bone regenerative capabilities of the dECM-coated scaffold. Overall, our work presented a promising technique for producing bioscaffolds that can augment bone tissue regeneration in numerous aspects.