The healing of bone defects by cell-free and stem cell-seeded 3D-printed PLA tissue-engineered scaffolds

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, the in-vivo healing of critical-sized bony defects by cell-free and stem cell-seeded 3D-printed PLA scaffolds was studied in rat calvaria bone. The scaffolds were implanted in the provided defect sites and histological analysis was conducted after 8 and 12 weeks. The results showed that both cell-free and stem cell-seeded scaffolds exhibited superb healing compared with the empty defect controls, and new bone and connective tissues were formed in the healing site after 8 and 12 weeks, postoperatively. The higher filled area, bone formation and bone maturation were observed after 12 weeks, particularly for PLA + Cell scaffolds.

Keywords

• 3D printing
• Bone healing
• Critical-sized defect
• Polylactic acid
• Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs)