Fabrication of MgCl₂/PCL composite scaffolds using 3D bio plotting system for bone regeneration

The scaffold plays an important role in bone regeneration, a research field highly involved with artificial substitutes, as it acts as substrate for cell adhesion, proliferation and regeneration of new tissue. Notably, choosing appropriate materials to design a well-functioned composite scaffold that is biocompatible with human tissue is highly critical. Considering that magnesium is one of the most excellent biomaterials for orthopedic applications, as well as having easy process-ability while combining with polycaprolactone (PCL) to achieve composite scaffold, a biodegradableMgCl₂/PCL (1:5) composite scaffold was controllably fabricated through solid freeform fabrication (SFF) technique for bone regeneration applications, in which PCL serves as base matrix and micro-scaled particles of MgCl₂ as filler. Due to the addition of MgCl₂, composite scaffold not only exhibits improved hydrophilicity, but also renders itself more compressive in a mechanical manner with enhanced compressive strength and modulus compared to pure PCL scaffold. Most importantly, the in-vitro cell culture study showed that cells in the synthesized scaffolds proliferated and differentiated faster than those in the PCL scaffolds. Consequently, it is believed that the MgCl₂/PCL (1:5) composite scaffold is a more effective and suitable substrate for cell culture.