Design and Development of Tissue Engineering Scafflods Using Rapid Prototyping Technology

Abstract

The major challenge in the field of tissue engineering is the design of suitable scaffolds that can mimic the structure, and biological functions of the natural extracellular matrix (ECM). It was hypothesized that this challenge can be met by modulating material properties and the macro/micro architecture of the scaffold. In this PhD research, a desktop robot based rapid prototyping (DRBRP) melt extrusion system was designed and developed in house that allowed design and fabrication of 3D scaffolds for tissue engineering applications. A range of synthetic biopolymers namely, PCL and PCL-based copolymers (PCL-PEG, PCL-PEG-PCL and PEG-PCL-PLA) in any form were directly extruded into 3D scaffolds with honeycomb-like architecture, and fully interconnected and controllable pore channels.The morphological and Mechanical characterization revealed that the morphological and mechanical properties can be modulated by varying scaffold materials along with process and design parameters. In vitro degradation study demonstrated that both PCL and PCL-PEG scaffolds realized homogeneous hydrolytic degradation via surface erosion resulting in a consistent and predictable mass and material loss. Likewise, the in vitro cell culture study using rabbit smooth muscle cells demonstrated biocompatibility of PCL and PCL-PEG scaffolds via cell adhesion and function. However, the PCL-PEG copolymer scaffolds showed overall better performance in cell culture studies than the PCL homopolymer scaffold that was reflected by the DNA quantification assay. In summary, the results suggest that a scaffold family can be developed with a range of morphological and biomechanical properties by various selections of design and process parameters in combination with various polymers using the in-house built DRBRP technique.