RT Journal Article
T1 Enhanced Bone Healing in Critical-Sized Rabbit Femoral Defects: Impact of Helical and Alternate Scaffold Architectures
A1 Alonso-Fernández, Iván
A1 Jostein Haugen, Håvard
A1 Parreiras Nogueira, Liebert
A1 López-Álvarez, Miriam
A1 González, Pío
A1 López Peña, Mónica
A1 González Cantalapiedra, Antonio
A1 Muñoz Guzón, Fernando María
K1 Polylactic acid
K1 Bioceramic
K1 3D-printing technology
K1 Composite scaffolds
K1 Scaffold architecture
K1 Bone regeneration
AB This study investigates the effect of scaffold architecture on bone regeneration, focusing on 3D-printed polylactic acid–bioceramic calcium phosphate (PLA-bioCaP) composite scaffolds in rabbit femoral condyle critical defects. We explored two distinct scaffold designs to assess their influence on bone healing and scaffold performance. Structures with alternate (0°/90°) and helical (0°/45°/90°/135°/180°) laydown patterns were manufactured with a 3D printer using a fused deposition modeling technique. The scaffolds were meticulously characterized for pore size, strut thickness, porosity, pore accessibility, and mechanical properties. The in vivo efficacy of these scaffolds was evaluated using a femoral condyle critical defect model in eight skeletally mature New Zealand White rabbits. Then, the results were analyzed micro-tomographically, histologically, and histomorphometrically. Our findings indicate that both scaffold architectures are biocompatible and support bone formation. The helical scaffolds, characterized by larger pore sizes and higher porosity, demonstrated significantly greater bone regeneration than the alternate structures. However, their lower mechanical strength presented limitations for use in load-bearing sites.
PB MDPI
SN 2073-4360
YR 2022
FD 2022-04-29
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10347/39052
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10347/39052
LA eng
NO Alonso-Fernández, I.; Haugen, H.J.; Nogueira, L.P.; López-Álvarez, M.; González, P.; López-Peña, M.; González-Cantalapiedra, A.; Muñoz-Guzón, F. Enhanced Bone Healing in Critical-Sized Rabbit Femoral Defects: Impact of Helical and Alternate Scaffold Architectures. Polymers 2024, 16, 1243. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16091243
NO This study was funded by the GRC support program from Xunta de Galicia (GRC ED431C 2021/19 and ED431C 2021/49) and the UE project IBEROS+ (0072_IBEROS_MAIS_1_E) financed by the POCTEP 2021-2027 FEDER program. Institutional Review Board Statement: The animal study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of University of Santiago de Compostela (protocol code: 02/20/LU-002 and date of approval: 12 May 2020). Data Availability Statement: Data supporting the reported results can be requested to the authors.. I.A. acknowledges the XUNTA de Galicia for his pre-doctoral contract (Ref. ED481A 2021/137) from Galician Government Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Universidades.
DS Minerva
RD 29 abr 2026