Amorphous magnesium phosphate-graphene oxide nano particles laden 3D-printed chitosan scaffolds with enhanced...

The utilization of 3D printing technology for the fabrication of graft substitutes in bone repair holds immense promise. However, meeting the requirements for printability, bioactivity, mechanical strength, and biological properties of 3D printed structures concurrently poses a significant challenge. In this study, we introduce a novel approach by incorporating amorphous magnesium phosphate-graphene oxide (AMP-GO) into a thermo-crosslinkable chitosan/β glycerol phosphate (CS/GP) ink. We fabricated thermo-crosslinkable CS inks containing varying concentrations (10 %, 20 %, or 30 % weight) of AMP-GO. The 3D printed scaffolds incorporating 20 % AMP-GO exhibited significantly improved mechanical properties, with compressive strengths of 4.5 ± 0.06 MPa compared to 0.5 ± 0.03 MPa for CS printed scaffolds. Moreover, the CS/AMP-GO inks demonstrated enhanced antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) bacteria, attributed to the release of magnesium cations and the performance of GO. Additionally, CS/20AMP-GO ink facilitated increased adhesion, viability, proliferation, and osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), as evidenced by the upregulation of ALP, COL1, and Runx₂ expression, which were elevated 9.8, 6.5, and >22 times, respectively, compared to pure CS scaffolds. Considering its exceptional in vivo osteogenic potential, we anticipate that the CS/20AMP-GO ink holds great potential for 3D printing of bone grafts.