AccScience Publishing / IJB / Volume 9 / Issue 3 / DOI: 10.18063/ijb.702
RESEARCH ARTICLE

3D-printed vascularized biofunctional scaffold for bone regeneration

Bojun Cao1,2,3† Jieming Lin4† Jia Tan1,2,3† Jiaxin Li5 Zhaoyang Ran1,2,3 Liang Deng1,2,3 Yongqiang Hao1,2,3*
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1 Shanghai Key Laboratory of Orthopaedic Implants, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200011, China
2 Clinical and Translational Research Center for 3D Printing Technology, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200011, China
3 Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Innovative Orthopaedic Instruments and Personalized Medicine, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200011, China
4 Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Renji Hospital, South Campus, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 201112, China
5 Department of Orthopedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
Submitted: 3 December 2022 | Accepted: 1 January 2023 | Published: 8 March 2023
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Methods, Processes, and Materials of Bioprinting)
© 2023 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

3D-printed biofunctional scaffolds have promising applications in bone tissue regeneration. However, the development of bioinks with rapid internal vascularization capabilities and relatively sustained osteoinductive bioactivity is the primary technical challenge. In this work, we added rat platelet-rich plasma (PRP) to a methacrylated gelatin (GelMA)/methacrylated alginate (AlgMA) system, which was further modified by a nanoclay, laponite (Lap). We found that Lap was effective in retarding the release of multiple growth factors from the PRP-GelMA/AlgMA (PRP-GA) hydrogel and sustained the release for up to 2 weeks. Our in vitro studies showed that the PRP-GA@Lap hydrogel significantly promoted the proliferation, migration, and osteogenic differentiation of rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, accelerated the formation of endothelial cell vascular patterns, and promoted macrophage M2 polarization. Furthermore, we printed hydrogel bioink with polycaprolactone (PCL) layer-by-layer to form active bone repair scaffolds and implanted them in subcutaneous and femoral condyle defects in rats. In vivo experiments showed that the PRP-GA@Lap/PCL scaffolds significantly promoted vascular inward growth and enhanced bone regeneration at the defect site. This work suggests that PRP-based 3D-bioprinted vascularized scaffolds will have great potential for clinical translation in the treatment of bone defects.

Keywords
3D bioprinting
Vascularization
Platelet-rich plasma
Bone regeneration
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International Journal of Bioprinting, Electronic ISSN: 2424-8002 Print ISSN: 2424-7723, Published by AccScience Publishing