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RESEARCH ARTICLE

In vitro Evaluation of a 20% Bioglass-Containing 3D

printable PLA Composite for Bone Tissue Engineering

Nicolas Söhling *, Shahed Al Zoghool , Eva Schätzlein , Jonas Neijhoft , Karla Mychellyne Costa
1
1
2
1
Oliveira , Liudmila Leppik , Ulrike Ritz , Edgar Dörsam , Johannes Frank , Ingo Marzi , Andreas
1
1
1
4
1
3
Blaeser , Dirk Henrich 1
2
1 Department of Trauma, Hand and Reconstructive Surgery, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Hessen,
Germany
2 Institute of BioMedical Printing Technology, Darmstadt University of Technology, Darmstadt, Germany
3 Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Mainz, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
4 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Darmstadt, Institute of Printing Science and Technology,
Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany
Abstract: Three-dimensional (3D) printing is considered a key technology in the production of customized scaffolds for
bone tissue engineering. In a previous work, we developed a 3D printable, osteoconductive, hierarchical organized scaffold
system. The scaffold material should be osteoinductive. Polylactic acid (PLA) (polymer)/Bioglass (BG) (mineral/ion source)
composite materials are promising. Previous studies of PLA/BG composites never exceed BG fractions of 10%, as increase of
bioactive BG component negatively affects the printability of the composite material. Here, we test a novel, 3D printable PLA/
BG composite with BG fractions up to 20% for its biological activity in vitro. PLA/BG filaments suitable for microstructure
3D printing were spun and the effect of different BG contents (5%, 10%, and 20%) in this material on mesenchymal stem
cell (MSC) activity was tested in vitro. Our results showed that all tested composites are biocompatible. MSC cell adherence
and metabolic activity increase with increasing BG content. The presence of BG component in scaffold has only slight effect
on osteogenic gene expression, but it has significant suppressive effect on the expression of inflammatory genes in MSC. In
addition, the material did not provoke any significant inflammatory response in whole-blood stimulation assay. The results
show that by increasing the BG content, the bioactivity can be further enhanced.
Keywords: Bone tissue engineering; Composite; Polylactic acid; Bioglass; Osteoconductive; Osteoinductive

*Correspondence to: Nicolas Söhling, Department of Trauma, Hand and Reconstructive Surgery, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am
Main, Germany; nicolas.soehling@kgu.de
Received: March 15, 2022; Accepted: April 29, 2022; Published Online: August 17, 2022
(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Advances in the Application of Bioprinted Biomaterials in Tissue Engineering)

Citation: Söhling N, Al Zoghool S, Schätzlein E, et al., 2022, In vitro Evaluation of a 20% Bioglass-Containing 3D Printable PLA Composite
for Bone Tissue Engineering. Int J Bioprint, 8(4):602. http://doi.org/10.18063/ijb.v8i4.602

1. Introduction bioactive internal structures, beyond the classical

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is considered a grids, can be easily integrated into load-bearing frame
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pioneering technology in the development of novel structures . However, in addition to design, the scaffold
bone substitutes (scaffolds) in the context of bone material has a significant impact on bone regenerative
tissue engineering (BTE). For the 1 time, the structural potential. Common biopolymers (polylactic acid [PLA],
st
requirements of bone regeneration in every detail can be polylactic glycolic acid [PLGA], polycaprolactone
taken into account to develop scaffolds using 3D printing [PCL], etc.) exhibit excellent printing properties, high
technology. Further development from purely biomimetic mechanic stability, and complex micron-scale structures
to bioaugmentative designs is possible. Highly complex, that are feasible with conventional 3D printers . Their
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© 2022 Author(s). This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting distribution and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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