Advances in additive manufacturing of polycaprolactone based scaffolds for bone regeneration

Critical sized bone defects are difficult to manage and currently available clinical/surgical strategies for treatment are not completely successful. Polycaprolactone (PCL) which is a biodegradable and biocompatible thermoplastic can be 3D printed using medical images into patient specific bone implants. The excellent mechanical properties and low immunogenicity of PCL makes it an ideal biomaterial candidate for 3D printing of bone implants. Though PCL suffers from the limitation of being bio-inert. Here we describe the use of PCL as a biomaterial for 3D printing for bone regeneration, and advances made in the field. The specific focus is on the different 3D printing techniques used for this purpose and various modification that can enhance bone regeneration following the development pathways. We further describe the effect of various scaffold characteristics on bone regeneration both in vitro and the translational assessment of these 3D printed PCL scaffolds in animal studies. The generated knowledge will help understand cell-material interactions of 3D printed PCL scaffolds, to further improve scaffold chemistry and design that can replicate bone developmental processes and can be translated clinically.