TY - JOUR
T1 - 4D polycarbonates via stereolithography as scaffolds for soft tissue repair
AU - Dove, Andrew
AU - Weems, Andrew
AU - Arno, Maria Chiara
AU - Yu, Wei
AU - Huckstepp, Robert T R
PY - 2021/7/5
Y1 - 2021/7/5
N2 - 3D printing has emerged as one of the most promising tools to overcome the processing and morphological limitations of traditional tissue engineering scaffold design. However, there is a need for improved minimally invasive, void-filling materials to provide mechanical support, biocompatibility, and surface erosion characteristics to ensure consistent tissue support during the healing process. Herein, soft, elastomeric aliphatic polycarbonate-based materials were designed to undergo photopolymerization into supportive soft tissue engineering scaffolds. The 4D nature of the printed scaffolds is manifested in their shape memory properties, which allows them to fill model soft tissue voids without deforming the surrounding material. In vivo, adipocyte lobules were found to infiltrate the surface-eroding scaffold within 2 months, and neovascularization was observed over the same time. Notably, reduced collagen capsule thickness indicates that these scaffolds are highly promising for adipose tissue engineering and repair.
AB - 3D printing has emerged as one of the most promising tools to overcome the processing and morphological limitations of traditional tissue engineering scaffold design. However, there is a need for improved minimally invasive, void-filling materials to provide mechanical support, biocompatibility, and surface erosion characteristics to ensure consistent tissue support during the healing process. Herein, soft, elastomeric aliphatic polycarbonate-based materials were designed to undergo photopolymerization into supportive soft tissue engineering scaffolds. The 4D nature of the printed scaffolds is manifested in their shape memory properties, which allows them to fill model soft tissue voids without deforming the surrounding material. In vivo, adipocyte lobules were found to infiltrate the surface-eroding scaffold within 2 months, and neovascularization was observed over the same time. Notably, reduced collagen capsule thickness indicates that these scaffolds are highly promising for adipose tissue engineering and repair.
KW - 3D printing
KW - ROP
KW - printed scaffolds
KW - stereolithography
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85110801914&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41467-021-23956-6
DO - 10.1038/s41467-021-23956-6
M3 - Article
C2 - 34226548
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 12
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
IS - 1
M1 - 3771
ER -