Biocompatibility of ceramic scaffolds for bone replacement made by 3D printing

Bone replacement materials used in tissue engineering require a high degree of safety and biological compatibility. For these reasons synthetic bone replacement materials based on calcium-phosphates are being used more widely. To mimic natural bone, rapid prototyping processes and especially 3D printing are favourable. Using 3D printing, complex 3 dimensional structures can be made easily. In this study we successfully performed biocompatibility tests with a Hydroxyapatite test structure (HA-S) made by 3D printing. Cytotoxicity tests were carried out according to DIN ISO 10993-5 in static and dynamic cultivation setups. To estimate cell proliferation and analyze morphology, histological evaluation was done. In summary, good cell viability as well as good proliferation behaviour were found. Moreover, these results show that the 3D printing process in combination with the suitable material presented in this study is well suited for fabricating scaffolds for TE in the required accuracy and biological compatibility.