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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.
Sec. Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2024.1425469

The induction of bone formation by 3D-printed PLGA microsphere scaffolds in a calvarial orthotopic mouse model: a pilot study

Provisionally accepted
Roland M. Klar Roland M. Klar 1*James C. Cox James C. Cox 1Claire J. Houchen Claire J. Houchen 1Naren Raja Naren Raja 1Houssam Bouloussa Houssam Bouloussa 2Stefan Lohfeld Stefan Lohfeld 1*
  • 1 Department of Oral and Craniofacial Sciences, School of Dentistry, University of Missouri–Kansas City, Kansas City, United States
  • 2 Department of Orthopedic Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Missouri–Kansas City, Kansas City, Kansas, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Polymeric biodegradable microspheres are readily utilized to support targeted drug delivery for various diseases clinically. 3D printed tissue engineering scaffolds from polymer filaments with embedded microspheres or nanoparticles, as well as bulk microsphere scaffolds, have been investigated for regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. However, 3D printed scaffolds consisting only of a homogenous microsphere size with an optimized architecture that includes a unique micro-and macroporosity, have been challenging to produce and hence, have not been assessed in the literature yet. Utilizing our recently established 3D-MultiCompositional Microsphere-Adaptive Printing (3D-McMap) method, the present study evaluated the effectiveness of 3D-printed poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) microsphere scaffolds, consisting of microsphere sizes 50, 100, or 200 µm, on the induction of bone formation when implanted in the calvarial murine regeneration model. Our results showed that PLGA microsphere scaffolds possess unique properties that support bone regeneration by supporting osteoconduction and stimulating, in our opinion, true spontaneous osteoinduction. The study demonstrated that PLGA microsphere-based scaffolds support bone growth in the absence of additional growth factors and promote osteogenesis primarily via their unique geometric configuration. The larger the microspheres were, the greater de novo bone formation was. This proves that bone tissue engineering scaffolds 3D printed from microspheres, enabled by the 3D-McMap method, are superior over bulk material printed scaffolds, as they possess the unique capability of spontaneous induction of new bone formation. With the addition of encapsulated modulatory bone-forming biomolecules they can substantially improve the spatiotemporal control of tissue morphogenesis, potentially leading to new innovative clinical tissue repair therapies that regenerate bone in large defects correctly and fully.

    Keywords: PLGA, microsphere scaffolds, Orthotopic site, Bone formation, 3D bioplotter, Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine, Bioengineering

    Received: 29 Apr 2024; Accepted: 14 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Klar, Cox, Houchen, Raja, Bouloussa and Lohfeld. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Roland M. Klar, Department of Oral and Craniofacial Sciences, School of Dentistry, University of Missouri–Kansas City, Kansas City, United States
    Stefan Lohfeld, Department of Oral and Craniofacial Sciences, School of Dentistry, University of Missouri–Kansas City, Kansas City, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.