Surface Recrystallization on Melt Electrowritten Scaffolds for Acceleration of Osteogenic Differentiation

Abstract

As physical topographical features suggest important effects in bone tissue engineering, an increasing amount of research on surface topographies has been carried out. In this work, melt electrowritten (MEW) PCL scaffolds (mPCL) with recrystallized surfaces for osteogenic differentiation were constructed. The recrystallized grid PCL scaffolds (rPCL) show strengthened mechanical properties, retained biocompatibility, enhanced expression of alkaline phosphatase, and improved calcium mineralization compared to uncrystallized mPCL scaffolds, thereby confirming the promotion of osteogenic differentiation. In addition, lumbar vertebra-like rPCL scaffolds were successfully printed for precursor osteoblast-like cells to cellularize in the desired pattern. Importantly, the combination of recrystallization method and MEW technology breathe new life into the MEW based tissue engineering scaffolds, presenting the nano/microstructure of PCL on macroscale PCL scaffolds with enhanced osteogenic activities, which especially opens up a new route for facile and versatile functionalization for novel MEW scaffolds to broaden their applications in bone tissue engineering.

Keywords: polycaprolactone, melt electrowriting, surface recrystallization, lumbar vertebra-like scaffold, osteogenic differentiation