An additive manufacturing-based 3D printed poly e-caprolactone/alginate sulfate/extracellular matrix construct for nasal cartilage regeneration

Various composite scaffolds with different fabrication techniques have been applied in cartilage tissue engineering. In this study, poly e-caprolactone (PCL) was printed by fused deposition modeling method, and the prepared scaffold was filled with Alginate (Alg): Alginate-Sulfate (Alg-Sul) hydrogel to provide a better biomimetic environment and emulate the structure of glycosaminoglycans properly. Furthermore, to enhance chondrogenesis, different concentrations of decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) were added to the hydrogel. For cellular analyses, the adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells were seeded on the hydrogel and the results of MTT assay, live/dead staining, and SEM images revealed that the scaffold with 1% dECM had better viscosity, cell viability, and proliferation. The study was conducted on the optimized scaffold (1% dECM) to determine mechanical characteristics, chondrogenic differentiation, and results demonstrated that the scaffold showed mechanical similarity to the native nasal cartilage tissue along with possessing appropriate biochemical features, which makes this new formulation based on PCL/dECM/Alg:Alg-Sul a promising candidate for further in-vivo studies.

Automated summary

This study used fused deposition modeling method to fabricate a poly e-caprolactone (PCL) scaffold, and filled it with Alginate (Alg): Alginate-Sulfate (Alg-Sul) hydrogel to create a biomimetic environment and mimic the structure of glycosaminoglycans. Different concentrations of decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) were added to enhance chondrogenesis. Cellular analyses showed that the scaffold with 1% dECM exhibited better viscosity, cell viability, and proliferation. Mechanical characterization and chondrogenic differentiation tests demonstrated that the optimized scaffold (1% dECM) had similar mechanical properties to native nasal cartilage tissue and appropriate biochemical features.