3D Printed Wavy Scaffolds Enhance Mesenchymal Stem Cell Osteogenesis

Abstract

There is a growing interest in developing 3D porous scaffolds with tunable architectures for bone tissue engineering. Surface topography has been shown to control stem cell behavior including differentiation. In this study, we printed 3D porous scaffolds with wavy or linear patterns to investigate the effect of wavy scaffold architecture on human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) osteogenesis. Five distinct wavy scaffolds were designed using sinusoidal waveforms with varying wavelengths and amplitudes, and orthogonal scaffolds were designed using linear patterns. We found that hMSCs attached to wavy patterns, spread by taking the shape of the curvatures presented by the wavy patterns, exhibited an elongated shape and mature focal adhesion points, and differentiated into the osteogenic lineage. When compared to orthogonal scaffolds, hMSCs on wavy scaffolds showed significantly enhanced osteogenesis, indicated by higher calcium deposition, alkaline phosphatase activity, and osteocalcin staining. This study aids in the development of 3D scaffolds with novel architectures to direct stem osteogenesis for bone tissue engineering.

A glance on the role of actin in osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells

“…Morphological structure, gene expression, and cell function, proliferation, and differentiation of cells in 3D are different than the cells in 2D [115]. Furthermore, the 3D scaffold can be able to augment the production of osteogenesis [116] and chondrogenesis as compared to 2D scaffold and thus is being used more frequently in osteochondral tissue engineering [117,118].…”

Effect of Geometric Curvature on Collective Cell Migration in Tortuous Microchannel Devices

“…However, most studies in tissue engineering had focused on attachment, growth, and proliferation of the constituent cells, neglecting the collective migratory behavior in response to the different cues from the microenvironments of the engineered tissue. Shen Ji et al [ 13 ] investigated the effect of wavy scaffold architecture on the osteogenesis of human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) by ultilizing 3D porous scaffolds that featured curved or linear patterns. They found that hMSCs on wavy patterns spreaded by following the curvature form provided by the wavy patterns, exhibiting elongated morphology and mature focal adhesion points.…”

Editorial for the Special Issue on 3D Printing for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine

“…These constraints include: 1) limited number of available bioink solutions and lack of thorough characterization of their biological and physiomechanical properties [10,17]; 2) poor understanding of the correlation between printed architecture and the ultimate tissue function [18,19]; 3) limitations on the quality of imaging techniques [20,21] and available bioprinters [22]; 4) complex and rather expensive processes involved pre, during, and post-bioprinting [22]; 5) suboptimal, non-specialized printing software and their often incompatibilities [23].There are eight articles published in this Special Issue composed of four research papers and four review papers. The research articles focus on the influence of electron beam (E-beam) sterilization on in vivo degradation of composite filaments [24], enhancing osteogenic differentiation of stem cells using 3D printed wavy scaffolds [25], the development of a scaffold-free bioprinter [26], and the fabrication of multilayered vascular constructs with a curved structure and multi-branches [27]. Kang et al investigated the effect of E-beam sterilization on the degradation of β-tricalcium phosphate/polycaprolactone (β-TCP/PCL) composite filaments in a rat subcutaneous model for 24 weeks [24].…”

“…There are eight articles published in this Special Issue composed of four research papers and four review papers. The research articles focus on the influence of electron beam (E-beam) sterilization on in vivo degradation of composite filaments [24], enhancing osteogenic differentiation of stem cells using 3D printed wavy scaffolds [25], the development of a scaffold-free bioprinter [26], and the fabrication of multilayered vascular constructs with a curved structure and multi-branches [27]. Kang et al investigated the effect of E-beam sterilization on the degradation of β-tricalcium phosphate/polycaprolactone (β-TCP/PCL) composite filaments in a rat subcutaneous model for 24 weeks [24].…”

“…Although they reported that the E-beam sterilization accelerated the degradation rate of the composite filaments, due to the decreased crystallinity and decreased molecular weight of PCL after the E-beam irradiation, they concluded that the chemistry of samples plays a bigger role than the sterilization method in biodegradation. Ji and Guvendiren investigated the effect of wavy scaffold architecture on human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) osteogenesis by 3D printing as compared to orthogonal scaffold design [25]. They found that when cultured on wavy scaffolds, hMSCs became elongated, formed mature focal adhesions, and showed significantly enhanced osteogenesis.…”