Additive manufacturing techniques for scaffold-based cartilage tissue engineering

Articular cartilage damage is of great concern as it creates chronic pain and reduction of joint movement, leading to osteoarthritis. In current treatments, the resulting healing tissues lack structural organisation of cartilage and consequently have inferior mechanical properties when compared to native cartilage, therefore being prone to failure. Tissue engineering has long worked on cartilage regeneration and several requirements have been identified for the engineered structures to meet the desired function, by combining biodegradable and biocompatible materials, cells and growth factors, aiming at the production of biological structures closely resembling the native tissue. Within the scaffold based techniques for cartilage tissue production, conventional methods have shown limitations, especially regarding the control over the micro-structure and repeatability of the produced constructs. Therefore, additive manufacturing techniques grew popular, allowing for a high level of control over the internal scaffold architecture and external shape of the construct, as well as guaranteeing its reproducibility.