Search

Xi Zhang,1,2 Mike A Geven,3 Xinluan Wang,4 Ling Qin,4 Dirk W Grijpma,3 Ton Peijs,1 David Eglin,5 Olivier Guillaume,5 Julien E Gautrot1,2 1School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London, UK; 2Institute of Bioengineering, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London, UK; 3Department of Biomaterials Science and Technology, University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands; 4Translational Medicine R&D Center, Institute of Biomedical and Health Engineering, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 5018057, China; 5AO Research Institute Davos, Davos, Switzerland Background: Poly(trimethylene carbonate) (PTMC) has wide biomedical applications in the field of tissue engineering, due to its biocompatibility and biodegradability features. Its common manufacturing involves photofabrication, such as stereolithography (SLA), which allows the fabrication of complex and controlled structures. Despite the great potential of SLA-fabricated scaffolds, very few examples of PTMC-based drug delivery systems fabricated using photofabrication can be found ascribed to light-triggered therapeutics instability, degradation, side reaction, binding to the macromers, etc. These concerns severely restrict the development of SLA-fabricated PTMC structures for drug delivery purposes. Methods: In this context, we propose here, as a proof of concept, to load a drug model (dexamethasone) into electrospun fibers of poly(lactic acid), and then to integrate these bioactive fibers into the photo-crosslinkable resin of PTMC to produce hybrid films. The hybrid films’ properties and drug release profile were characterized; its biological activity was investigated via bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells culture and differentiation assays. Results: The polymer/polymer hybrids exhibit improved properties compared with PTMC-only films, in terms of mechanical performance and drug protection from UV denaturation. We further validated that the dexamethasone preserved its biological activity even after photoreaction within the PTMC/poly(lactic acid) hybrid structures by investigating bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells proliferation and osteogenic differentiation. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the potential of polymer–polymer scaffolds to simultaneously reinforce the mechanical properties of soft matrices and to load sensitive drugs in scaffolds that can be fabricated via additive manufacturing. Keywords: fiber-reinforced composite, poly(trimethylene carbonate), photo-crosslinking, dexamethasone, osteogenic materials