Melt-based, solvent-free additive manufacturing of biodegradable polymeric scaffolds with designer microstructures for tailored mechanical/biological properties and clinical applications
Zijie Meng, Jiankang He, Jiaxin Li, Yanwen Su, Dichen Li
Abstract
Biodegradable scaffolds are considered as the key component of tissue engineering which serve as temporary structural supports for tissue regeneration. The mechanical/biological properties of artificial synthetic polymeric scaffolds are highly dependent on their structural organisations. Additive manufacturing (AM) techniques have provided unprecedented opportunities to customise patient-specific scaffolds with complex architectures in a reproducible manner. Here we provide a state-of-the-art review on the recent development and application of melt-based, solvent-free AM techniques to produce biodegradable polymeric scaffolds for better understanding their structure–property-function relationships for different tissue regeneration. Typical biodegradable polymers for melt-based AM are introduced, and key melt-based AM techniques including extrusion-based printing, selective laser sintering and high-resolution electrohydrodynamic bioprinting are highlighted. The critical strategies by structural design to regulate the mechanical/biological properties of as-fabricated biodegradable scaffolds in vitro and in vivo are summarised. The clinical trials as well as potential challenges of the resultant scaffolds were finally reviewed and discussed.