Methods: Hybrid inorganic/organic TiO2/PCL and ZrO2/PCL particles, all containing 6, 12 and 24 % of the organic component, were synthesized by means of the sol–gel process and, then, used as fillers to reinforce 3D PCL-based scaffolds. PCL-based composite scaffolds were manufactured through 3D fiber-deposition technique and their mechanical properties were measured by compression tests. 3D morphology of the scaffold was analyzed by means of micro-computed tomography (microCT). Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was performed in order to evaluate surface features. In order to evaluate cells-materials interaction, bone marrow-derived human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) and human dental pulp mesenchymal stem cell were seeded on specimens and cell proliferation was evaluated by Alamar Blue Assay.
Results: AFM analysis performed on the sol-gel synthesized hybrid inorganic/organic particles demonstrated a nanostructured surface with domains between 10 and 100 nm. Compression tests carried on the 3D rapid prototyped composite scaffolds highlighted the effect of the hybrid inorganic/organic particles on the mechanical behavior. MicroCT analysis showed 100 % of interconnected pores. Moreover, these composites were very biocompatible and MSCs were able to proliferate on the substrates.
Conclusions: The use of rapid prototyping techniques combined with a reverse engineering approach results a very promising strategy to design multifunctional tailor-made scaffolds for bone regeneration.
Acknowledgements: This study was supported by the Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca by funds of PRIN 20072L2KRX and PRIN 2007M9YTFJ_003.