Fabrication of 3D Printed Hydroxyapatite Composite Scaffolds for Bone Regeneration

Published

May 19, 2021

Author(s)

Yoontae Kim, Eun-Jin Lee, Albert Davydov, Stanislav Frakhtbeyen, Jonathan Seppala, Laurence Chow, Tagaki Shozo, Stella Alimperti

Abstract

Additive biomanufacturing has been adapted in a wide variety of biomedical and tissue engineering applications, including orthopedics. The ability to print biocompatible, patient-specific geometries with controlled porosity, mechanical strength has made three-dimensional (3D) printing ideal for bone grafting. Herein, a 3D bio-compatible polymer/hydroxyapatite composite scaffold was printed using calcium phosphate cement (CPC) slurries at room temperature. The CPC slurries (bio-inks) were composed by a mixture of a solid phase that includes a mixture of tetracalcium phosphate (TTCP; Ca4(PO4)2O) and dicalcium phosphate anhydrous (DCPA; CaHPO4), and a liquid phase that includes a Polyvinyl butyral (PVB) in Ethanol (EtOH) or Tetrahydrofuran (THF). The CPC slurries were successfully printed in sodium phosphate (Na2HPO4) bath, which performed as a hardening accelerator. The 3D printed scaffolds thoroughly demonstrated different geometry, microstructure, mechanical properties, and osteoconductivity. Overall, this proof-of-concept study provides a facile way to engineer transplantable biomimetic osteoscaffolds with determined properties, which support proper bone regeneration and mechanical support in different anatomic locations.

Citation

Biomedical Materials

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

3D printing, DCPA, TTCP, Polyvinyl butyral, scaffold, 3D culture, bone regeneration, osteogenesis, osteoblast

Citation

Kim, Y. , Lee, E. , Davydov, A. , Frakhtbeyen, S. , Seppala, J. , Chow, L. , Shozo, T. and Alimperti, S. (2021), Fabrication of 3D Printed Hydroxyapatite Composite Scaffolds for Bone Regeneration, Biomedical Materials, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=930560 (Accessed October 14, 2025)