3D Tissue Scaffold Printing on Custom Artificial Bone Applications

Production of defect-matching scaffolds is the most critical step in custom artificial bone applications. three dimensional printing (3dp) is one of the best techniques particularly for custom designs on artificial bone applications because of the high controllability and design independency. our long-term aim is to implant an artificial custom bone that is cultured with patient's own mesenchymal stem cells after determining defect architecture on patient's bone by using ct-scan and printing that defect-matching 3d scaffold with appropriate nontoxic materials. in this study, preliminary results of strength and cytotoxicity measurements of 3d printed scaffolds with modified calcium sulfate composite powder (mcscp) were presented. cad designs were created and mcscp were printed by a 3d printer (3ds, visijet, pxl core). some samples were covered with salt solution in order to harden the samples. mcscp and salt coated mcscp were the two experimental groups in this study. cytotoxicity and mechanical experiments were performed after surface examination withscanning electron microscope (sem) and light microscope. tension tests were performed for mcscp and salt coated mcscp samples. the 3d scaffolds were sterilized with ethylene oxide gas sterilizer, ventilated and conditioned with dmem (10% fbs). l929 mouse fibroblast cells were cultured on scaffolds (3 repetitive) and cell viability was determined using mtt analysis. according to the mechanical results, the mcscp group stands until average 71,305 n, while salt coated mcscp group stands until 21,328n. although the strength difference between two groups is statistically significant (p=0.001, mann-whitney u), elastic modulus is not (mcscp=1,186pa, salt coated mcscp=1,169pa, p=0.445). cell viability (mtt analysis) results on day 1, 3, and 5 demonstrated thatscaffolds hadno toxic effect to the l929 mouse fibroblast cells. consequently, 3d printed samples with mcscp could potentially be a strong alternative (biocompatible) for current custom made scaffolds. desired strength can be acquired with cell inoculation and cultivation of samples in a bioreactor for ossification.