Ceramic Coated 3D-Printed Polymeric Scaffold for Adhesion of Osteoblast Cells

Objectives: Coating the surface of 3D-printed PCL scaffolds via β-TCP to increase the mechanical properties, cell adhesion, and proliferation of scaffolds compared to pure PCL or β-TCP scaffolds.
Methods:
The scaffolds were 3D-printed after optimizing the related parameters. The scaffolds were placed into a syringe and filled with a slurry mixture of β -TCP to coat the surface. Hydraulic pressure was then applied at a force of 100N for five minutes for coating the scaffold and placed into an oven at 65°C for an hour. Following cooling to room temperature, the scaffolds were removed from the syringes and placed into an ultrasonic for 15 minutes to remove any excess β-TCP. The morphology, mechanical properties, biocompatibility, cell proliferation and differentiation of scaffolds were thoroughly investigated.
Results:
Measuring the line and surface roughness of scaffolds revealed that the roughness of the coated scaffold is more than uncoated scaffold which is more appropriate for cell adhesion. The arithmetic average surface roughness of the coated and uncoated scaffolds was found to be 1.87 ± 0.34 µm and 1.12 ± 0.40 µm, respectively; indicating better surface for the adhesion of osteoblast cells. The mechanical properties of uncoated and coated scaffolds revealed that modulus of coated is more than bare scaffold and both of which are in the range of spongy bone. The cell culture results showed that adhesion and proliferation of osteoblast cells significantly improved while using coated scaffold. Alkaline phosphate assay (ALP) demonstrated a gradual increase in ALP activity at each time point (days 7, 14, 21) with over double the ALP activity in coated scaffolds compared to control. These results imply a higher osteogenic differentiation capacity for the coated scaffolds.
Conclusions: The obtained experimental results ascertain that coating the surface of scaffolds with β-TCP shows high potential application for bone tissue engineering.