Physiologic Response Evaluation of Human Foetal Osteoblast Cells within Engineered 3D-Printed Polylactic Acid Scaffolds
Maria Giovanna Rizzo,
Nicoletta Palermo,
Paola Alibrandi,
Emanuele Luigi Sciuto,
Costantino Del Gaudio,
Vincenzo Filardi,
Barbara Fazio,
Antonella Caccamo,
Salvatore Oddo,
Giovanna Calabrese,
Sabrina Conoci
Affiliations
Maria Giovanna Rizzo
Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Viale Ferdinando Stagno d’Alcontres, 31, 98168 Messina, Italy
Nicoletta Palermo
Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Viale Ferdinando Stagno d’Alcontres, 31, 98168 Messina, Italy
Paola Alibrandi
Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Viale Ferdinando Stagno d’Alcontres, 31, 98168 Messina, Italy
Emanuele Luigi Sciuto
Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Viale Ferdinando Stagno d’Alcontres, 31, 98168 Messina, Italy
Costantino Del Gaudio
Italian Space Agency, Via del Politecnico snc, 00133 Rome, Italy
Vincenzo Filardi
Department TTO, Piazza Pugliatti 1, 98122 Messina, Italy
Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Viale Ferdinando Stagno d’Alcontres, 31, 98168 Messina, Italy
Salvatore Oddo
Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Viale Ferdinando Stagno d’Alcontres, 31, 98168 Messina, Italy
Giovanna Calabrese
Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Viale Ferdinando Stagno d’Alcontres, 31, 98168 Messina, Italy
Sabrina Conoci
Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Viale Ferdinando Stagno d’Alcontres, 31, 98168 Messina, Italy
Large bone defect treatments have always been one of the important challenges in clinical practice and created a huge demand for more efficacious regenerative approaches. The bone tissue engineering (BTE) approach offered a new alternative to conventional bone grafts, addressing all clinical needs. Over the past years, BTE research is focused on the study and realisation of new biomaterials, including 3D-printed supports to improve mechanical, structural and biological properties. Among these, polylactic acid (PLA) scaffolds have been considered the most promising biomaterials due to their good biocompatibility, non-toxic biodegradability and bioresorbability. In this work, we evaluated the physiological response of human foetal osteoblast cells (hFOB), in terms of cell proliferation and osteogenic differentiation, within oxygen plasma treated 3D-printed PLA scaffolds, obtained by fused deposition modelling (FDM). A mechanical simulation to predict their behaviour to traction, flexural or torque solicitations was performed. We found that: 1. hFOB cells adhere and grow on scaffold surfaces; 2. hFOB grown on oxygen plasma treated PLA scaffolds (PLA_PT) show an improvement of cell adhesion and proliferation, compared to not-plasma treated scaffolds (PLA_NT); 3. Over time, hFOB penetrate along strands, differentiate, and form a fibrous matrix, tissue-like; 4. 3D-printed PLA scaffolds have good mechanical behaviour in each analysed configuration. These findings suggest that 3D-printed PLA scaffolds could represent promising biomaterials for medical implantable devices in the orthopaedic field.
