Fabrication of cylindrical PCL scaffolds using a knitting technique and assessment of cell proliferation in the scaffolds

In this study, a three-dimensional (3D) cylindrical polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffold was fabricated from PCL monofilaments using a knitting machine. First, two types of multi-filaments were fabricated from PCL monofilaments with diameters of 120 μm using a knitting machine. The approximate diameters of the fabricated multi-filaments were 400 μm and 660 μm, respectively. These two types of multi-filaments were used to fabricate 2D PCL sheets. Next, the fabricated 2D PCL sheet was rolled up to form a cylindrical structure with a diameter of 5 mm. Subsequently, the end of the sheet was sewed onto the intimate surface of the rolled up sheet. Finally, the cylindrical knitted PCL structure was cut into several pieces, resulting in cylindrical scaffolds with lengths and diameters of 5 mm. The porosities of the 400 μm multi-filament and 660 μm multi-filament scaffolds were measured as 76.6% and 77.2%, respectively. Moreover, the compressive moduli of 400 μm multi-filament and 660 μm multi-filament scaffolds were measured as 13.3 MPa and 11.2 MPa, respectively. Additionally, to analyze cell proliferation, scaffolds were seeded with 1×106/20 μl in media osteosarcoma cells and cultured for 1, 3, 7, and 14 days and were analyzed using a CCK-8 assay. The results were compared with bio-plotter scaffolds, which have a porosity of 77% and size of 4.43 by 4.43 by 5 mm3, which is approximately the same as the scaffolds fabricated here. The scaffolds fabricated in this study showed better cell proliferation than the bio-plotter scaffold.