Design, characterization and in vitro evaluation of biomimetic hierarchical scaffolds with TPMS‑gyroid structure for...

Human physical and mental health are significantly impacted by maxillofacial alveolar bone defects. The emergence of additive manufacturing metamaterial scaffolds provides a new treatment strategy for this. Due to the complexity of the jawbone and the difficulty in preparing bionic hierarchical gradient scaffolds, most current research focuses on human long bones. This study first proposes a metamaterial scaffold that simulates the jawbone. The stratified scaffolds (G300-600, G300-750,G300-900) adopt the Gyroid structure of the triply periodic minimum surfaces (TPMS), with the upper and lower layers respectively simulating the cortical bone and cancellous bone of the jawbone. And a large-aperture uniform scaffold (G750) was designed as a control. And it is prepared through digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing technology. The results show that sintering the scaffold to 1170℃ and holding it for 48 hours can improve the mechanical properties and biocompatibility of the scaffold, making it match. G300-600 not only improves in vitro neovascularization and new bone formation, but also features a high level of compressive strength (9.86MPa) and outstanding degradability. This gradient metamaterial scaffold has a structure, mechanical properties and biological activity that conform to the jawbone, providing a new strategy for bone defects in the maxillofacial region.