Akermanite Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Engineering: 3D Printing Using Polymer Precursor and Scaffold Properties

Bioceramic scaffolds with excellent osteogenesis ability and degradation rate exhibit great potential in bone tissue engineering. Akermanite (Ca2MgSi2O7) has attracted much attention due to its good mechanical property, biodegradability and enhanced bone repair ability. Here, akermanite (Ca2MgSi2O7) scaffolds were fabricated by an extrusion-type 3D printing at room temperature and sintering under an inert atmosphere using printing slurry composed of a silicon resin as polymer precursor, and CaCO3 and MgO as active fillers. Furthermore, the differences in structure, compressive strength, in vitro degradation, and biological properties among akermanite, larnite (Ca2SiO4) and forsterite (Mg2SiO4) scaffolds were investigated. The results showed that the akermanite scaffold is similar to those of larnite and forsterite in 3D porous structure, and its compressive strength and degradation rate were between those of the larnite and forsterite scaffolds, but it showed a greater ability to stimulate osteogenic gene expression of rabbit bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (rBMSCs) than both larnite and forsterite scaffolds. Hence, such 3D printed akermanite scaffold possesses great potential for bone tissue engineering.