A 3-Dimensional Scaffolding System Recapitulates the Hierarchical Osteon Structure

The bone is composed of solid cortical bone and honeycomb-like trabecular bone. Although the cortical bone provides the substantial mechanical strength of the bone, few studies have focused on its regeneration. As the structural and functional units of the cortical bone, osteons play critical roles in bone turnover. Composed of osteocytes, lamellae, lacunocanalicular network, and Haversian canals, osteons exhibit a delicate and hierarchical architecture. Studies have attempted to reconstruct the osteonal structure with artificial approaches; however, hardly the four elements were recapitulated simultaneously. In this work, a series of bioengineering techniques, including electrospinning, micropatterning, and laser-directed microfabrication, were employed to develop a three-dimensional scaffolding system, which successfully recapitulated the osteon structure