Novel 3D‐Printed PCL/CMC Scaffolds for Enhanced Bone Regeneration

Novel cell scaffolds for bone tissue engineering require tight control of geometry, mechanics, and chemistry. We employed carboxymethyl chitosan (CMC)/poly(caprolactone) (PCL) blends as matrix material in a fused deposition system (3D printer). We evaluated the performance of the printed scaffolds for bone regeneration by testing cell proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells, based on comparing rat‐derived bone marrow and adipose cells. Although bone marrow stem cells exhibited higher alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity than adipose stem cells, both demonstrated in vitro mineralization. Our findings also indicate that incorporating CMC into 3D‐printed PCL scaffolds significantly enhances cell proliferation, as evidenced by ALP activity and osteo‐related gene expression. These results prompted us to carry out in vivo experiments (skull defects in rats), which evidenced that our scaffolds promote bone regeneration and stimulate both angiogenic and osteogenic differentiation, consistent with the in vitro results. We believe that our findings are of great medical relevance for bone regeneration in personalized medicine.