Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) surface nanomodified 3D printed polylactic acid (PLA) scaffolds for bone regeneration.
Three-dimensional (3D) printing is a new fabrication method for tissue engineering which can precisely control scaffold architecture at the micron-scale. However, scaffolds not only need 3D biocompatible structures that mimic the micron structure of natural tissues, they also require mimicking of the nano-scale extracellular matrix properties of the tissue they intend to replace. In order to achieve this, the objective of the present in vitro study was to use cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) as a quick and inexpensive way to modify the nano-scale roughness and chemical composition of a 3D printed scaffold surface. Water contact angles of a normal 3D printed poly-lactic-acid (PLA) scaffold dramatically dropped after CAP treatment from 70±2° to 24±2°. In addition, the nano-scale surface roughness (Rq) of the untreated 3D PLA scaffolds drastically increased (up to 250%) after 1, 3, and 5min of CAP treatment from 1.20nm to 10.50nm, 22.90nm, and 27.60nm, respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis showed that the ratio of oxygen to carbon significantly increased after CAP treatment, which indicated that the CAP treatment of PLA not only changed nano-scale roughness but also chemistry. Both changes in hydrophilicity and nano-scale roughness demonstrated a very efficient plasma treatment, which in turn significantly promoted both osteoblast (bone forming cells) and mesenchymal stem cell attachment and proliferation. These promising results suggest that CAP surface modification may have potential applications for enhancing 3D printed PLA bone tissue engineering materials (and all 3D printed materials) in a quick and an inexpensive manner and, thus, should be further studied.



Three-dimensional (3D) printing is a new fabrication method for tissue engineering which can precisely control scaffold architecture at the micron-scale. Although their success is related to their ability to exactly mimic the structure of natural tissues and control mechanical properties of scaffolds, 3D printed scaffolds have shortcomings such as limited mimicking of the nanoscale extracellular matrix properties of the tissue they intend to replace. In order to achieve this, the objective of the present in vitro study was to use cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) as a quick and inexpensive way to modify the nanoscale roughness and chemical composition of a 3D printed scaffold surface. The results indicated that using CAP surface modification could achieve a positive change of roughness and surface chemistry. Results showed that both hydrophilicity and nanoscale roughness changes to these scaffolds after CAP treatment played an important role in enhancing bone cell and mesenchymal stem cell attachment and functions. More importantly, this technique could be used for many 3D printed polymer-based biomaterials to improve their properties for numerous applications.
Department of Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Mian
M
Wang
Department of Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Pelagie
P
Favi
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA.
Xiaoqian
X
Cheng
Department of Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Negar H
NH
Golshan
Department of Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Katherine S
KS
Ziemer
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA.
Michael
M
Keidar
Department of Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Wenzhou Institute of Biomaterials and Engineering, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China; Center of Excellence for Advanced Materials Research, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: th.webster@neu.edu.
Thomas J
TJ
Webster
D001861:Bone Regeneration / Q000187:drug effects*; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000187:drug effects; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D048430:Cell Shape / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006801:Humans; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000648:ultrastructure; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D010006:Osteoblasts / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000648:ultrastructure; D056951:Photoelectron Spectroscopy; D058626:Plasma Gases / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011091:Polyesters / Q000494:pharmacology*; D066330:Printing, Three-Dimensional; D013499:Surface Properties; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry*
D058626:Plasma Gases; D011091:Polyesters; C033616:poly(lactide)
3D printing; Bone regeneration; Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP); Poly-lactic acid (PLA); Surface modification