Tissue engineered bone formation with polymer/ceramic composites by press-and-baking method

Abstract

A novel process was developed to fabricate polymer/ceramic composites for bone tissue engineering. The mixture of polylactic acid (PLA), calcium metaphosphate (CMP), and NaCl were compressed and subsequently heated. After dissolving the NaCl salts, porous biodegradable polymer/ceramic composite scaffolds were formed. The characteristics of the scaffolds were compared to those of scaffolds fabricated using a conventional solvent casting method, in terms of pore structure, pore size distribution, and mechanical properties. The scaffolds were seeded by osteoblasts and cultured in vitro or implanted into nude mice subcutaneously for up to 5 weeks. Cells were better gown to form tissue-like structures on CMP/PLA composites fabricated by the Press-and-Baking method. In addition, the alkaline phosphatase activity of and calcium deposition in the scaffolds explanted from mice were enhanced significantly for the scaffolds by Press-and-Baking compared to them by solvent casting. Taken together, these results suggest that CMP promote cell differentiation and proliferation via direct interaction with cells in the CMP/PLA composites. This novel PLA/CMP composite will be applicable for bone tissue engineering to support and cell differentiation and growth.