Bio-mimicry of trace element in bone tissue engineering

• Main Author: Chee, Cui Xia
• Other Authors: Teoh Swee Hin
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Bioengineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/64981
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

In bone tissue engineering, the combination of bio-scaffolds and cells facilitates the regeneration of bone tissues. It provides a sustainable alternative approach to fix the critical sized defects in bone fractures, an increasing phenomenon especially with the rising occurrence of osteoporosis. Scaffolds give a structural support and the appropriate guidance for the integration and growth of bone cells. This project aims to incorporate magnesium, an important trace element that plays a vital role in bone mineralization, with PCL and β-TCP, which has been established to promote osteogenic activities, to create filaments for scaffolds that mimic the human bones as closely as possible. Various compositions of PCL-TCP-Mg filaments, with 1, 10, 20, 40 wt% of β-TCP and 1 wt% of MgSO4 dopant are fabricated. Mechanical tests, degradation and biological experiments were carried out to evaluate their suitability as human bone scaffolds. The results indicated that the inclusion of Mg2+ and increasing β-TCP and Mg2+ reflected higher bone mineralization without any threats of cytotoxicity. In addition, trends in mechanical test and degradation profile showed positive impressions of increasing β-TCP and Mg2+ from 1 wt% to 20 wt% in its application of bone scaffolds. Based on the results established in this project, 80/20/1 PCL-TCP-Mg filament showed the greatest potential to be fabricated into scaffolds. However, it is important to note that mechanical and physical properties of scaffolds from these filaments could differ from the results obtained in this study due to other physical factors.