ABSTRACT
An advanced manufacturing technique, selective laser sintering (SLS), was utilized to fabricate a porous polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffold designed with an automated algorithm in a parametric library system named the "computer-aided system for tissue scaffolds" (CASTS). Tensile stiffness of the sintered PCL strut was in the range of 0.43+/-0.15MPa when a laser power of 3W and scanning speed of 150 in s(-1) was used. A series of compressive mechanical characterizations was performed on the parametric scaffold design and an empirical formula was presented to predict the compressive stiffness of the scaffold as a function of total porosity. In this work, the porosity of the scaffold was selected to be 85%, with micropores (40-100mum) throughout the scaffold. The compressive stiffness of the scaffold was 345kPa. The feasibility of using the scaffold for cardiac tissue engineering was investigated by culturing C2C12 myoblast cells in vitro for 21days. Fluorescence images showed cells were located throughout the scaffold. High density of cells at 1.2x10(6)cellsml(-1) was recorded after 4days of culture. Fusion and differentiation of C2C12 were observed as early as 6days in vitro and was confirmed with myosin heavy chain immunostaining after 11days of cell culture. A steady population of cells was then maintained throughout 21days of culturing. This work demonstrated the feasibility of tailoring the mechanical property of the scaffold for soft tissue engineering using CASTS and SLS. The macroarchitecture of the scaffold can be modified efficiently to fabricate scaffolds with different macropore sizes or changing the elemental cell design in CASTS. Further process and design optimization could be carried out in the future to fabricate scaffolds that match the tensile strength of native myocardium, which is of the order of tens of kPa.
