Fabrication Of 3D-printed PLGA Hybrid Scaffolds For Tissue Engineering

Tissue engineering scaffolds provides 3D-structure for cell attachment and growth. 3D-printting and electrospinng are common methods to fabricate 3D scaffolds. Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) is a common biomaterial for scaffolds fabrication for its biocompatibility and biodegradability. Carbon Nanotubes (CNT) is also applied to biomedicine application. In this paper,3D PLGA/CNT composite scaffolds were fabricated by the 3D printing technique, and the effects of CNT on the scaffold degradation in vitro were studied in terms of the mass loss, swelling property and structural integrity of the scaffold. C2C12 cell was used for PLGA/CNT composite scaffolds cell culture test. The results showed that CNT can dramatically reduce the degree of scaffold swelling and keep its original shape. Cell viability tests showed that the cell viability increased with the addition of CNT. Further, the optimal concentration of CNT was also studied, and the result showed that the 0.5%wt of CNT is the best to keep the original shape of the scaffold as opposed to an interesting result that the pure PLGA scaffolds failed to keep their shape as a whole during the testing period. Cell culture results showed that PLGA/CNT composite scaffolds were nontoxic for C2C12 cell attachment and growth. Furthermore,3D PLGA scaffolds with controlled pore size were fabricated by the combination of 3D-printting with electrospinning method. Hybrid scaffolds showed an improved mechanical properties compared with the scaffolds by 3D printing only. And hybrid scaffolds also tend to degrade faster.