Incorporation of forsterite nanoparticles in a 3D printed polylactic acid/polyvinylpyrrolidone scaffold for bone...

Three-dimensional (3D) printing has facilitated the fabrication of customized scaffolds for the repair of complex bone defects. In this study, 3D-printed scaffolds composed of a mixture of polylactic acid-polyvinylpyrrolidone (PLA-PVP) incorporating different amounts of forsterite (F; Mg₂SiO₄) nanoparticles were fabricated using fused deposition modeling (FDM) technique. The incorporation of PVP and F nanoparticles into the PLA scaffold significantly decreased the water drop contact angle. The mechanical properties of the PLA-PVP scaffold were enhanced with the addition of 10 % F nanoparticles, as the compressive yield strength increased from 10.8 to 16.0 MPa and the elastic modulus from 83.52 to 108.41 MPa. However, the addition of F nanoparticles increased the degradation rate of the PLA-PVP scaffold over 8 weeks. Importantly, the addition of 10 % F nanoparticles into the PLA-PVP scaffold improved bioactivity and formation of apatite deposits on the scaffold after 4 weeks of immersion in simulated body fluid. Moreover, the PLA-PVP/10F scaffold showed strong MG63 cell adhesion and proliferation, as well as promoting osteogenic differentiation of rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells. At last, these findings suggest the PLA-PVP/10F scaffold is a promising candidate for application in bone defect repair.