Mineralized self-assembled peptides on 3D laser-made scaffolds: a new route toward 'scaffold on scaffold' hard tissue engineering

In this study, we propose a new approach to hard tissue regeneration based on the mineralization of 3D scaffolds made using lasers. To this end, we report the rational design of aspartate-containing self-assembling peptides targeted for calcium binding. We further investigate the suitability of these peptides to support cell attachment and proliferation when coupled on a hybrid organic-inorganic structurable material, and evaluate the response of pre-osteoblastic cells on functionalized 3D scaffolds and material surfaces. Our results show that the mineralized peptide, when immobilized on a hybrid photo-structurable material strongly supports cell adhesion, a proliferation increase after three and seven days in culture, and exhibits a statistically significant increase of biomineralization. We propose this strategy as a 'scaffold on scaffold' approach for hard tissue regeneration.