Pearl has great potential as a natural biomaterial for bone tissue engineering, but it suffers from low porosity, difficulty in molding, and poor anti-buckling property. In this study, we used the 3-D printing technique to fabricate original pearl powder and PCL composite scaffolds with different concentrations of pearl powder. The four groups of scaffolds were termed PCL, 30% Pearl/PCL, 50% Pearl/PCL and 80% Pearl/PCL scaffolds according to the proportion of pearl powder. The samples were systematically investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), wide-angle XRD, liquid substitution, Zwick static materials testing, and energy dispersive X-ray analysis. Biological characterization included SEM, fluorescent staining using calcein-AM, cell counting kit-8 assay, alkaline phosphatase and qRT-PCR analysis. The results show that the pore size and the pore morphology of the scaffolds are closely controlled via 3-D printing. This is very beneficial for tissue growth and nutrition transmission. The regular and uniform square macropore structure ensured that the pearl powder/PCL scaffolds had favorable mechanical strength. As the concentration of pearl powder in the scaffolds increase, the compressive strength and apatite formation increase as well as cell adhesion, proliferation, and osteogenic differentiation. These results show that pearl powder/PCL scaffolds fit the requirements of bone tissue engineering. The structures as well as physicochemical and biological properties of pearl powder/PCL composite scaffolds are positively associated with pearl powder concentrations.
Keywords: 3-D printing technique; Biomaterial; biocompatibility; osteogenic differentiation; pearl powder; polyε-caprolactone (PCL); scaffold.