Improving Electrospun Fibre Stacking with Direct Writing for Developing Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering for Non-load Bearing Bone

Melt electrospinning can be used to produce fibres within the micro to nano scale with a deposition in a manner in-line with conventional 3D printing technology’s [1]. Technical issues such as charge build up in subsequent layers lead to limitations in the precision of fibre deposition as the number of layers increases.

Polycaprolactone (PCL) is a polyester with a well established history as a scaffold material for bone tissue engineering [2]. It is biocompatible, easy to shape and mechanically suitable for bone defects. Bioactive glasses are ceramic materials which are known to stimulate osteogenic differentiation [3]. The combination of PCL and bioactive glasses present the possibility to develop osteogenic scaffolds with a high degree of control of laydown using melt electrospinning [4].

This work develops the potential of melt electrospinning as a scaffold fabrication technique for tissue engineering non-load bearing bone defects by both developing techniques for improcing fibre laydown introducing osteogenic factors.