3D Bioplotter Research Papers

Macrophage polarisation is crucial for initiating inflammation in response to biomaterial scaffolds, significantly influencing tissue integration and regeneration in vivo. Modulating macrophage polarisation towards a tissue-regeneration-favouring phenotype through the physical properties of scaffolds offers a promising strategy to enhance tissue regeneration while minimising unfavourable immune responses. However, the critical impact of scaffold physical properties, such as size-scale dimensions, orientation of architectural cues, and local-stiffness of these cues on macrophage polarisation, remains largely unexplored and inadequately understood. This study investigates the combinatorial effects of the physical properties of 3D scaffolds made from poly (-caprolactone) on human macrophage polarisation. Our findings indicate…

Meniscal injury, a prevalent and challenging medical condition, is characterized by poor self-healing potential and a complex microenvironment. Tissue engineering scaffolds, particularly those made of silk fibroin (SF)/hyaluronic acid methacryloyl (HAMA) and encapsulating Mg2+, are promising options for meniscal repair. However, the inflammatory response following implantation is a significant concern. In this study, we prepared a composite SF/HAMA-Mg hydrogel scaffold, evaluated its physical and chemical properties, and detected its fibrochondrogenic differentiation effect in vitro and the healing effect in a rabbit meniscus defect model in vivo. Our results showed that the scaffold differentiates pro-inflammatory M1 macrophages into anti-inflammatory M2 macrophages…

The repair of critical-sized bone defects continues to pose a challenge in clinics. Strontium (Sr), recognized for its function in bone metabolism regulation, has shown potential in bone repair. However, the underlying mechanism through which Sr2+ guided favorable osteogenesis by modulating macrophages remains unclear, limiting their application in the design of bone biomaterials. Herein, Sr-incorporated bioactive glass (SrBG) was synthesized for further investigation. The release of Sr ions enhanced the immunomodulatory properties and osteogenic potential by modulating the polarization of macrophages toward the M2 phenotype. In vivo, a 3D-printed SrBG scaffold was fabricated and showed consistently improved bone regeneration by…

Traditional treatments for bone repair with allografts and autografts are limited by the source of bone substitutes. Bone tissue engineering via a cell-based bone tissue scaffold is a new strategy for treatment against large bone defects with many advantages, such as the accessibility of biomaterials, good biocompatibility and osteoconductivity; however, the inflammatory immune response is still an issue that impacts osteogenesis. Sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) is a cell-derived sphingolipid that can mediate cell proliferation, immunoregulation and bone regeneration. We hypothesised that coating S1P on a β-Tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) scaffold could regulate the immune response and increase osteogenesis. We tested the immunoregulation…

Craniotomy involves the removal of a skull fragment to access the brain, such as during tumor or epilepsy surgery, which is immediately replaced intraoperatively. The infection incidence after craniotomy ranges from 0.8 to 3%, with approximately half caused by Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). To mitigate infectious complications following craniotomy, we engineered a three-dimensional (3D) bioprinted bone scaffold to harness the potent antibacterial activity of macrophages (MΦs) together with antibiotics using a mouse S. aureus craniotomy-associated biofilm model that establishes a persistent infection on the bone flap, subcutaneous galea, and brain. The 3D scaffold contained rifampin and daptomycin printed in a…

Bioactive glass (BG) can repair bone defects, however, it is not clear whether BG has the ability for bone augmentation without making any bone defect. Unlike the intramembranous osteogenesis in bone defect repair, the extramembranous osteogenesis occurs outside the cortical bone and the osteoprogenitor cells show the reversed migration. Herein, nanoscale bioactive glass scaffolds (BGSs) are fabricated, and their role and immunomodulation‐related mechanism in the extramembranous osteogenesis are investigated. The in vitro migration and differentiation of calvaria preosteoblasts are studied by culturing with peripheral macrophage‐conditioned medium after stimulating with BGSs. The results indicate that the proinflammatory environment significantly promotes preosteoblast…

Despite various studies to minimize host reaction following a biomaterial implantation, an appealing strategy in regenerative medicine is to actively use such an immune response to trigger and control tissue regeneration. We have developed an in vitro model to modulate the host response by tuning biomaterials’ surface properties through surface modifications techniques as a new strategy for tissue regeneration applications. Results showed tunable surface topography, roughness, wettability, and chemistry by varying treatment type and exposure, allowing for the first time to correlate the effect of these surface properties on cell attachment, morphology, strength and proliferation, as well as proinflammatory (IL-1β,…