Sustainable drug release from highly porous and architecturally engineered composite scaffolds prepared by 3D...

Additive manufacturing techniques have evolved novel opportunities for the fabrication of highly porous composite scaffolds with well-controlled and interconnected pore structures which is notably important for tissue engineering. In this work, poly (ε-caprolactone) (PCL)-based composite scaffolds (average pore diameter of 450 μm and strut thickness of 400 μm) reinforced with 10 vol% bioactive glass particles (BG; ∼6 μm) or TiO₂ nanoparticles (∼21 nm), containing different concentrations of tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) as an antimicrobial agent, were prepared by 3D printing. In order to investigate the effect of fabrication process and scaffold geometry on the biocompatibility, drug release kinetics, and antibacterial activity, polymer and composite films (2D structures) were also prepared by solvent casting method. We demonstrate that even without any additional coating layer, sustainable release can be attained on highly porous scaffolds prepared by 3D printing due to chemical interactions between functional groups of TCH and the bioactive particles. Herein, the effect of TiO₂ nanoparticles on the release rate is substantially more pronounced than BG particles. Nevertheless, agar well-diffusion and MTT assays determine better cellular viability and higher antibacterial effect for PCL/BG composite. Although all the drug-eluting composite scaffolds exhibit acceptable hemocompatibility, in vitro cellular and bacterial studies also determine that the maximum amount of TCH that can inhibit gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and gram negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria without cytotoxicity effect (≥95% viability) is 0.57 mg/ml. These findings may pave the way for designing structurally engineered composite scaffolds with sustainable drug release profile by additive manufacturing techniques for tissue engineering applications.