A poly(lactic acid)/calcium metaphosphate composite for bone tissue engineering.
A new method to prepare PLA/CMP (poly-L-lactide/calcium metaphosphate) composite scaffolds was developed for effective bone tissue engineering. This novel sintering method is composed of pressing the mixture of PLA, CMP, and salt particles at 150 MPa for 3 min followed by heat treatment at 210 degrees C for 30 min. The scaffolds had a homogeneously interconnected porous structure without a skin layer, and they exhibited a narrower pore size distribution and higher mechanical strength in comparison with scaffolds made by a solvent casting method. The scaffolds were seeded by osteoblasts and cultured in vitro or implanted into nude mice subcutaneously for up to 5 weeks. The number of cells attached to and proliferated on the scaffolds at both in vitro and in vivo was in the order of; PLA by novel sintering < PLA/CMP by solvent casting < PLA/CMP by novel sintering. In addition, the alkaline phosphatase activity of and calcium deposition in the scaffolds explanted from mice were enhanced significantly for the scaffolds by novel sintering compared to them by solvent casting. The in vitro results agreed well with the in vivo data. Such a superior characteristic of the novel sintering method should have resulted from the fact that the CMP particles could contact directly with cells/tissues to stimulate the cell proliferation and osteogenic differentiation, while the CMP particles would be coated by polymers and hindered to interact with cells/tissues in the case of a solvent casting method. As the novel sintering method does not use any solvents it offers another advantage to avoid problems associated with solvent residue.
Jung
Youngmee
Y
Biomaterials Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 131, Cheongryang, Seoul 130-650, Korea.
Kim
Sang-Soo
SS
Kim
Young Ha
YH
Kim
Sang-Heon
SH
Kim
Byung-Soo
BS
Kim
Sukyoung
S
Choi
Cha Yong
CY
Kim
Soo Hyun
SH
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001861:Bone Regeneration / Q000502:physiology*; D018786:Bone Substitutes / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D002130:Calcium Phosphates / Q000737:chemistry*; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000502:physiology; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D048429:Cell Size; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006358:Hot Temperature; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000737:chemistry*; D008297:Male; D008422:Materials Testing; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D010006:Osteoblasts / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology* / Q000637:transplantation; D011091:Polyesters; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*
D018786:Bone Substitutes; D002130:Calcium Phosphates; D011091:Polyesters; D011108:Polymers; D019344:Lactic Acid; C033616:poly(lactide)