Fabrication of Trabecular Bone-Templated Tissue-Engineered Constructs by 3D Inkjet Printing

3D printing enables the creation of scaffolds with precisely controlled morphometric properties for multiple tissue types, including musculoskeletal tissues such as cartilage and bone. Computed tomography (CT) imaging has been combined with 3D printing to fabricate anatomically scaled patient-specific scaffolds for bone regeneration. However, anatomically scaled scaffolds typically lack sufficient resolution to recapitulate the <100 micrometer-scale trabecular architecture essential for investigating the cellular response to the morphometric properties of bone. In this study, it is hypothesized that the architecture of trabecular bone regulates osteoblast differentiation and mineralization. To test this hypothesis, human bone-templated 3D constructs are fabricated via a new micro-CT/3D inkjet printing process. It is shown that this process reproducibly fabricates bone-templated constructs that recapitulate the anatomic site-specific morphometric properties of trabecular bone. A significant correlation is observed between the structure model index (a morphometric parameter related to surface curvature) and the degree of mineralization of human mesenchymal stem cells, with more concave surfaces promoting more extensive osteoblast differentiation and mineralization compared to predominately convex surfaces. These findings highlight the significant effects of trabecular architecture on osteoblast function.

A tandem microcomputed tomography/inkjet 3D printing process is developed to fabricate tissue-engineered bone constructs (TEBCs) from human trabecular bone templates. TEBC morphometric properties, trabecular interconnectivity, surface roughness, and mechanical properties resemble those of human bone. Human mesenchymal stem cells cultured on the TEBCs exhibit significantly different metabolic activity, osteogenic differentiation, and mineralization depending on the anatomic site.

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