Employing Polymer and Gel to Fabricate Scaffold-like Cancellous Orthopedic Screw: Polycaprolactone/Chitosan/Hydroxyapatite

Using metallic/polymeric orthopedic screws causes cavities in bone trauma after the attachment of broken bones, which prolongs the healing. Yet, it remains unknown how to overcome such a challenge. The main aim of this research was to use both polymers and gels to fabricate and study a new PCL/chito...

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Main Authors: AmirHossein Badami, Javad Esmaeili, Hasan Mirtalaie
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-01-01
Series:Gels
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2310-2861/11/1/28
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author AmirHossein Badami
Javad Esmaeili
Hasan Mirtalaie
author_facet AmirHossein Badami
Javad Esmaeili
Hasan Mirtalaie
author_sort AmirHossein Badami
collection DOAJ
description Using metallic/polymeric orthopedic screws causes cavities in bone trauma after the attachment of broken bones, which prolongs the healing. Yet, it remains unknown how to overcome such a challenge. The main aim of this research was to use both polymers and gels to fabricate and study a new PCL/chitosan/hydroxyapatite scaffold-like orthopedic screw for cancellous bone trauma. This screw, because of its low stiffness and its scaffold-based matrix (due to the gel part), can facilitate bone healing. Different concentrations of PCL (60–95% <i>w/v</i>) and chitosan (0–5% <i>w/v</i>) were blended according to the Response Surface Methodology using the Central Composite Design. The screws were fabricated using the freeze-drying technique. The screws were assessed mechanically, physically, and biologically (cell viability, cell attachment, DAPI, ALP staining, and Alizarin Red staining), and in vivo (a rat subcutaneous implantation model). Based on the results, screws depending on the PCL and gel content depicted different but notable mechanical behavior (10–60 MPa of compressive strength and 100–600 N force). The gel part could affect the physical properties of screws including water uptake (120%), degradation (18% after 21 days), porosities (23%), and mechanical strength (elastic modulus = 59.47 Mpa). The results also demonstrated no cytotoxicity towards MC3T3 cells (>80% cell viability) with good cell attachment, cell concentration, and mineralization (>90%) that was justified by the gel content. The results also showed good in vivo biocompatibility. To sum up, fabricated scaffold-like screws with gel content can be a good candidate for cancellous-bone-based orthopedic purposes. However, more in vitro and in vivo studies are required to optimize the PCL:gel ratio.
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spelling doaj-art-24f25dfeb5b34fc49c466c320bf5c31c2025-01-24T13:33:50ZengMDPI AGGels2310-28612025-01-011112810.3390/gels11010028Employing Polymer and Gel to Fabricate Scaffold-like Cancellous Orthopedic Screw: Polycaprolactone/Chitosan/HydroxyapatiteAmirHossein Badami0Javad Esmaeili1Hasan Mirtalaie2Department of Mechanical Engineering, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad 8543131, IranDepartment of Tissue Engineering, TISSUEHUB Co., Tehran 1956854977, IranDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad 8543131, IranUsing metallic/polymeric orthopedic screws causes cavities in bone trauma after the attachment of broken bones, which prolongs the healing. Yet, it remains unknown how to overcome such a challenge. The main aim of this research was to use both polymers and gels to fabricate and study a new PCL/chitosan/hydroxyapatite scaffold-like orthopedic screw for cancellous bone trauma. This screw, because of its low stiffness and its scaffold-based matrix (due to the gel part), can facilitate bone healing. Different concentrations of PCL (60–95% <i>w/v</i>) and chitosan (0–5% <i>w/v</i>) were blended according to the Response Surface Methodology using the Central Composite Design. The screws were fabricated using the freeze-drying technique. The screws were assessed mechanically, physically, and biologically (cell viability, cell attachment, DAPI, ALP staining, and Alizarin Red staining), and in vivo (a rat subcutaneous implantation model). Based on the results, screws depending on the PCL and gel content depicted different but notable mechanical behavior (10–60 MPa of compressive strength and 100–600 N force). The gel part could affect the physical properties of screws including water uptake (120%), degradation (18% after 21 days), porosities (23%), and mechanical strength (elastic modulus = 59.47 Mpa). The results also demonstrated no cytotoxicity towards MC3T3 cells (>80% cell viability) with good cell attachment, cell concentration, and mineralization (>90%) that was justified by the gel content. The results also showed good in vivo biocompatibility. To sum up, fabricated scaffold-like screws with gel content can be a good candidate for cancellous-bone-based orthopedic purposes. However, more in vitro and in vivo studies are required to optimize the PCL:gel ratio.https://www.mdpi.com/2310-2861/11/1/28orthopedic screwcancellous bone traumascaffoldtissue engineeringcell migrationbiomaterial
spellingShingle AmirHossein Badami
Javad Esmaeili
Hasan Mirtalaie
Employing Polymer and Gel to Fabricate Scaffold-like Cancellous Orthopedic Screw: Polycaprolactone/Chitosan/Hydroxyapatite
Gels
orthopedic screw
cancellous bone trauma
scaffold
tissue engineering
cell migration
biomaterial
title Employing Polymer and Gel to Fabricate Scaffold-like Cancellous Orthopedic Screw: Polycaprolactone/Chitosan/Hydroxyapatite
title_full Employing Polymer and Gel to Fabricate Scaffold-like Cancellous Orthopedic Screw: Polycaprolactone/Chitosan/Hydroxyapatite
title_fullStr Employing Polymer and Gel to Fabricate Scaffold-like Cancellous Orthopedic Screw: Polycaprolactone/Chitosan/Hydroxyapatite
title_full_unstemmed Employing Polymer and Gel to Fabricate Scaffold-like Cancellous Orthopedic Screw: Polycaprolactone/Chitosan/Hydroxyapatite
title_short Employing Polymer and Gel to Fabricate Scaffold-like Cancellous Orthopedic Screw: Polycaprolactone/Chitosan/Hydroxyapatite
title_sort employing polymer and gel to fabricate scaffold like cancellous orthopedic screw polycaprolactone chitosan hydroxyapatite
topic orthopedic screw
cancellous bone trauma
scaffold
tissue engineering
cell migration
biomaterial
url https://www.mdpi.com/2310-2861/11/1/28
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AT hasanmirtalaie employingpolymerandgeltofabricatescaffoldlikecancellousorthopedicscrewpolycaprolactonechitosanhydroxyapatite