An integrative approach for the design of bioactive polycaprolactone-based scaffold for bone tissue engineering

Treatment of large bone defects is challenging and requires coordination between cells, cytokines, and mechanical demands. Scaffold for bone tissue engineering should provide mechanical properties and allow cells adherence, proliferation, and osteodifferentiation. The current study aims to create an improved scaffold for bone tissue engineering, which is tailored to meet crucial scaffold requirements for a successive transplant. To achieve this goal, we adopted an integrative approach that considers simultaneously all essential design criteria, including high porosity, a wide range of pore sizes, a hydrophilic and rough surface, and biofunctionalization, for better bioactivity. We choose polycaprolactone (PCL) because of its mechanical stiffness and combined several methodologies to improve PCL bioactivity. The scaffolds were thoroughly characterized and tested in vitro with two cell lines and in vivo, demonstrating enhanced cell adhesion and proliferation onto and inside the scaffold. We demonstrate that our integrative approach has led to high hydrophilicity, high porosity with interconnected pores, stiffness, and improved bioactivity compared with the other studied scaffolds. These new scaffolds serve as a promising platform for bone engineering.