title: 3D printing PLGA: a quantitative examination of the effects of polymer composition and printing parameters on print resolution.
abstract: In the past few decades, 3D printing has played a significant role in fabricating scaffolds with consistent, complex structure that meet patient-specific needs in future clinical applications. Although many studies have contributed to this emerging field of additive manufacturing, which includes material development and computer-aided scaffold design, current quantitative analyses do not correlate material properties, printing parameters, and printing outcomes to a great extent. A model that correlates these properties has tremendous potential to standardize 3D printing for tissue engineering and biomaterial science. In this study, we printed poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) utilizing a direct melt extrusion technique without additional ingredients. We investigated PLGA with various lactic acid:glycolic acid (LA:GA) molecular weight ratios and end caps to demonstrate the dependence of the extrusion process on the polymer composition. Micro-computed tomography was then used to evaluate printed scaffolds containing different LA:GA ratios, composed of different fiber patterns, and processed under different printing conditions. We built a statistical model to reveal the correlation and predominant factors that determine printing precision. Our model showed a strong linear relationship between the actual and predicted precision under different combinations of printing conditions and material compositions. This quantitative examination establishes a significant foreground to 3D print biomaterials following a systematic fabrication procedure. Additionally, our proposed statistical models can be applied to couple specific biomaterials and 3D printing applications for patient implants with particular requirements.
authors.affiliation: The Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, United States of America.
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Timothy R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Holzberg
authors.forename: Casey G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Ankit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gargava
authors.forename: Jordan E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Trachtenberg
authors.forename: Antonios G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Mikos
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Fisher
mesh_terms: D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000737:chemistry*; D016014:Linear Models; D011100:Polyglycolic Acid / Q000737:chemistry*; D000077182:Polylactic Acid-Polyglycolic Acid Copolymer; D066330:Printing, Three-Dimensional; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000077182:Polylactic Acid-Polyglycolic Acid Copolymer; D011100:Polyglycolic Acid; D019344:Lactic Acid