Three-dimensional bioprinting of osteochondral composite tissue with innovative bio-ink and PCL to repair articular cartilage defects / 中华骨科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:A new type of bio-ink and polycaprolactone (PCL) were used to construct an integrated osteochon-dral composite tissue block by multi-nozzle 3D bioprinter. And the repair results to osteochondral defects were evaluated.Methods:In freeze-drying group Freeze-dried composite scaffold made by silk fibroin (SF) and β-tricalcium phosphate was used to repair osteochondral defects, as control. In the 3D printing group PCL was used to printed a hollow multi-layer cylinder frame by 3D biological printer. Extracellular matrix, SF and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells were used as chondral bio-ink. Then, chon-dral bio-ink was used to print tissue-engineered cartilage on top of PCL frame. Before implantation of cartilage defect, autogenous cancellous bone was filled in PCL frame, then the tissue-engineered osteochondral composite was used to repair osteochondral defects. In mosaic group Autologous osteochondral transplantation was performed. The repair results of the above three groups were compared by histological score, biochemical analysis and biomechanical test to evaluate the effect of repairing rabbit cartilage defects.Results:The compression modulus of neo-cartilage in the 3D print group 2.56±0.30 MPa was close to that of the mosaic group 2.51±0.13 MPa ( P>0.05), and significantly higher than that of freeze-dried group 1.37±0.14 MPa ( F=11.058, P<0.05). The sGAG contents in the 3D print group 14.49±0.7 μg/mg was close to that of the mosaic group 14.98±0.81 μg/mg ( P>0.05), and significantly higher than that of freeze-dried group 8.72±0.73 μg/mg ( F=20.973, P<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in collagen content between the three groups ( P>0.05). The results of ICRS cartilage repair histology score showed that the scores of the 3D print group were close to those of the mosaic group in the matrix, cell distribution, cell viability and subchondral bone ( P>0.05), and were significantly higher than those of freeze-dried group in the surface and cartilage mineralization scores ( F=19.544, P<0.05). Conclusion:Using the new bio-ink to make bone cartilage composite scaffold by 3D bio printing can simplify the construction of tissue-engineered bone cartilage composite tissue in vitro, and can repair cartilage defects in vivo.