Characterization of Polycaprolactone Nanohydroxyapatite Composites with Tunable Degradability Suitable for Indirect Printing
Degradable bone implants are designed to foster the complete regeneration of natural tissue after large-scale loss trauma. Polycaprolactone (PCL) and hydroxyapatite (HA) composites are promising scaffold materials with superior mechanical and osteoinductive properties compared to the single material...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Polymers |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/13/2/295 |
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| author | Stephanie E. Doyle Lauren Henry Ellen McGennisken Carmine Onofrillo Claudia Di Bella Serena Duchi Cathal D. O'Connell Elena Pirogova |
| author_facet | Stephanie E. Doyle Lauren Henry Ellen McGennisken Carmine Onofrillo Claudia Di Bella Serena Duchi Cathal D. O'Connell Elena Pirogova |
| author_sort | Stephanie E. Doyle |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Degradable bone implants are designed to foster the complete regeneration of natural tissue after large-scale loss trauma. Polycaprolactone (PCL) and hydroxyapatite (HA) composites are promising scaffold materials with superior mechanical and osteoinductive properties compared to the single materials. However, producing three-dimensional (3D) structures with high HA content as well as tuneable degradability remains a challenge. To address this issue and create homogeneously distributed PCL-nanoHA (nHA) scaffolds with tuneable degradation rates through both PCL molecular weight and nHA concentration, we conducted a detailed characterisation and comparison of a range of PCL-nHA composites across three molecular weight PCLs (14, 45, and 80 kDa) and with nHA content up to 30% <i>w</i>/<i>w</i>. In general, the addition of nHA results in an increase of viscosity for the PCL-nHA composites but has little effect on their compressive modulus. Importantly, we observe that the addition of nHA increases the rate of degradation compared to PCL alone. We show that the 45 and 80 kDa PCL-nHA groups can be fabricated via indirect 3D printing and have homogenously distributed nHA even after fabrication. Finally, the cytocompatibility of the composite materials is evaluated for the 45 and 80 kDa groups, with the results showing no significant change in cell number compared to the control. In conclusion, our analyses unveil several features that are crucial for processing the composite material into a tissue engineered implant. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T04:24:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f0114b4fad6448d1859d4ecf7ecd7502 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4360 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T04:24:24Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Polymers |
| spelling | doaj.art-f0114b4fad6448d1859d4ecf7ecd75022023-12-03T13:42:49ZengMDPI AGPolymers2073-43602021-01-0113229510.3390/polym13020295Characterization of Polycaprolactone Nanohydroxyapatite Composites with Tunable Degradability Suitable for Indirect PrintingStephanie E. Doyle0Lauren Henry1Ellen McGennisken2Carmine Onofrillo3Claudia Di Bella4Serena Duchi5Cathal D. O'Connell6Elena Pirogova7Electrical and Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, AustraliaElectrical and Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, AustraliaElectrical and Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, AustraliaBioFab3D@ACMD, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, Fitzroy, VIC 3065, AustraliaBioFab3D@ACMD, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, Fitzroy, VIC 3065, AustraliaBioFab3D@ACMD, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, Fitzroy, VIC 3065, AustraliaElectrical and Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, AustraliaElectrical and Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, AustraliaDegradable bone implants are designed to foster the complete regeneration of natural tissue after large-scale loss trauma. Polycaprolactone (PCL) and hydroxyapatite (HA) composites are promising scaffold materials with superior mechanical and osteoinductive properties compared to the single materials. However, producing three-dimensional (3D) structures with high HA content as well as tuneable degradability remains a challenge. To address this issue and create homogeneously distributed PCL-nanoHA (nHA) scaffolds with tuneable degradation rates through both PCL molecular weight and nHA concentration, we conducted a detailed characterisation and comparison of a range of PCL-nHA composites across three molecular weight PCLs (14, 45, and 80 kDa) and with nHA content up to 30% <i>w</i>/<i>w</i>. In general, the addition of nHA results in an increase of viscosity for the PCL-nHA composites but has little effect on their compressive modulus. Importantly, we observe that the addition of nHA increases the rate of degradation compared to PCL alone. We show that the 45 and 80 kDa PCL-nHA groups can be fabricated via indirect 3D printing and have homogenously distributed nHA even after fabrication. Finally, the cytocompatibility of the composite materials is evaluated for the 45 and 80 kDa groups, with the results showing no significant change in cell number compared to the control. In conclusion, our analyses unveil several features that are crucial for processing the composite material into a tissue engineered implant.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/13/2/295composite materialsbone regenerationdegradable scaffoldPCLHA |
| spellingShingle | Stephanie E. Doyle Lauren Henry Ellen McGennisken Carmine Onofrillo Claudia Di Bella Serena Duchi Cathal D. O'Connell Elena Pirogova Characterization of Polycaprolactone Nanohydroxyapatite Composites with Tunable Degradability Suitable for Indirect Printing Polymers composite materials bone regeneration degradable scaffold PCL HA |
| title | Characterization of Polycaprolactone Nanohydroxyapatite Composites with Tunable Degradability Suitable for Indirect Printing |
| title_full | Characterization of Polycaprolactone Nanohydroxyapatite Composites with Tunable Degradability Suitable for Indirect Printing |
| title_fullStr | Characterization of Polycaprolactone Nanohydroxyapatite Composites with Tunable Degradability Suitable for Indirect Printing |
| title_full_unstemmed | Characterization of Polycaprolactone Nanohydroxyapatite Composites with Tunable Degradability Suitable for Indirect Printing |
| title_short | Characterization of Polycaprolactone Nanohydroxyapatite Composites with Tunable Degradability Suitable for Indirect Printing |
| title_sort | characterization of polycaprolactone nanohydroxyapatite composites with tunable degradability suitable for indirect printing |
| topic | composite materials bone regeneration degradable scaffold PCL HA |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/13/2/295 |
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