Properties of scaffolds prepared by fused deposition modeling of poly(hydroxyalkanoates)

• Published in: International journal of biological macromolecules 2020-10, Vol.161, p.364-376
• Main Authors: Kovalcik, Adriana, Sangroniz, Leire, Kalina, Michal, Skopalova, Katerina, Humpolíček, Petr, Omastova, Maria, Mundigler, Norbert, Müller, Alejandro J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 3-Hydroxybutyric Acid - chemistry; 3D printing; Animals; Biocompatible Materials - chemistry; Biodegradation; Caproates - chemistry; Cytocompatibility; Humans; Mechanical Phenomena; Mechanical properties; Mice; Molecular Structure; Molecular Weight; Poly(hydroxyalkanoates); Poly(lactic acid); Polymers - chemistry; Rheology; Temperature; Thermogravimetry; Tissue Scaffolds - chemistry
• ISSN: 0141-8130; 1879-0003
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2020.06.022

Poly(hydroxyalkanoates) are biodegradable and biocompatible polymers suitable for tissue engineering. Fused deposition modeling (FDM) belongs to modern rapid prototyping techniques for the fabrication of scaffolds. In this work, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB), poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) (PHBH) were tested for FDM. Thermal and rheological properties of industrial PHAs were compared with poly(lactic acid) (PLA), which is a biodegradable polymer commonly used for FDM. The massive decrease in viscosity and loss of molecular weight of PHB and PHBV precluded their use for FDM. On the other hand, the thermal stability of PHBH was comparable to that of PLA. PHBH scaffolds prepared by FDM exhibited excellent mechanical properties, no cytotoxicity and large proliferation of mouse embryonic fibroblast cells within 96 h. The hydrolytic degradation of PHBH and PLA scaffolds tested in synthetic gastric juice for 52 days confirmed a faster degradation of PHBH than PLA. The decrease in molecular weight confirmed the first-order kinetics with a slightly higher (0.0169 day−1) degradation rate constant for PHBH as compared to the value (0.0107 day−1) obtained for PLA. These results indicate that PHBH could be used to produce scaffolds by FDM with application in tissue engineering. [Display omitted] •PHBH displayed thermal stability and rheological properties comparable with PLA.•PHBH scaffolds were prepared by fused deposition modeling.•PHBH scaffolds displayed remarkable mechanical and viscoelastic properties.•PHBH scaffolds were non-toxic and supported excellent cells proliferation.•Satisfactory degradation rate of PHBH and PLA scaffolds in synthetic gastric juice