B-tricalcium phosphate/S53P4 scaffolds produced by direct ink writing:cold sintering and functionalization with nanoparticles

Abstract

The use of calcium phosphate and bioactive glasses scaffolds have shown promising results on Bone Tissue Engineering to treat large bone defects. 3D printing has been drawing attention as technology to scaffolds manufacturing due to its great structural control over their geometry and for presenting high reproducibility properties. Usually, after printing, ceramic scaffolds undergo through a sintering process, in which high temperatures are employed to consolidate their structure and eliminate organic additives. Recent research have shown the possibility of sintering ceramic materials using low temperatures by combining pressure and an aqueous sintering medium to aid in the process. This method is known as cold sintering process and is being explored as an alternative to conventional sintering in several research fields, but it is still unexplored on bone tissue engineering. In addition to it, there is the possibility to ensure double function to scaffolds through a superficial treatment in order to treat bone defects affected by diseases such as osteomyelitis and Bone Cancer. Gold/platinum bimetallic nanoparticles have shown great potential in Biomedicine as antimicrobial and antitumoral agents. However, their behavior with bone cells and bone tumors is still unknown. Within this context, this work aims to study the influence of the cold sintering process in the ²-TCP/S53P4 scaffold's microstructure and properties and to study their functionalization with gold/platinum nanoparticles. (AU)