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In bone tissue engineering, scaffolds with excellent mechanical and bioactive properties play prominent roles in space maintaining and bone regeneration, attracting increasingly interests in clinical practice. In this study, strontium-incorporated β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP), named Sr-TCP, bioceramic triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) structured scaffolds were successfully fabricated by digital light processing (DLP)-based 3D printing technique, achieving high porosity, enhanced strength, and excellent bioactivity. The Sr-TCP scaffolds were first characterized by element distribution, macrostructure and microstructure, and mechanical properties. Notably, the compressive strength of the scaffolds reached 1.44 MPa with porosity of 80%, bringing a great mechanical breakthrough to porous scaffolds. Furthermore, the Sr-TCP scaffolds also facilitated osteogenic differentiation of mouse osteoblastic cell line (MC3T3-E1) cells in both gene and protein aspects, verified by alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays. Overall, the 3D-printed Sr-TCP bioceramic TPMS structured scaffolds obtained high porosity, boosted strength, and superior bioactivity at the same time, serving as a promising approach for bone regeneration.


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3D-printed strontium-incorporated β-TCP bioceramic triply periodic minimal surface scaffolds with simultaneous high porosity, enhanced strength, and excellent bioactivity

Show Author's information Yanbo Shana,b,Yang Baib,Shuo Yangb,Qing ZhoucGang Wanga,bBiao ZhubYiwen Zhoua,bWencan Fanga,bNing Wenb( )Rujie Hec( )Lisheng Zhaob( )
Chinese PLA Medical School, Beijing 100853, China
Institute of Stomatology & Oral Maxilla Facial Key Laboratory, First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China
Institute of Advanced Structure Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China

† Yanbo Shan, Yang Bai, and Shuo Yang contributed equally to this work.

Abstract

In bone tissue engineering, scaffolds with excellent mechanical and bioactive properties play prominent roles in space maintaining and bone regeneration, attracting increasingly interests in clinical practice. In this study, strontium-incorporated β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP), named Sr-TCP, bioceramic triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) structured scaffolds were successfully fabricated by digital light processing (DLP)-based 3D printing technique, achieving high porosity, enhanced strength, and excellent bioactivity. The Sr-TCP scaffolds were first characterized by element distribution, macrostructure and microstructure, and mechanical properties. Notably, the compressive strength of the scaffolds reached 1.44 MPa with porosity of 80%, bringing a great mechanical breakthrough to porous scaffolds. Furthermore, the Sr-TCP scaffolds also facilitated osteogenic differentiation of mouse osteoblastic cell line (MC3T3-E1) cells in both gene and protein aspects, verified by alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays. Overall, the 3D-printed Sr-TCP bioceramic TPMS structured scaffolds obtained high porosity, boosted strength, and superior bioactivity at the same time, serving as a promising approach for bone regeneration.

Keywords: 3D printing, digital light processing (DLP), strontium, bone scaffold, β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP), triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS)

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Publication history

Received: 16 April 2023
Revised: 20 June 2023
Accepted: 17 July 2023
Published: 18 September 2023
Issue date: September 2023

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© The Author(s) 2023.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51972339 and 51802350).

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