Own experience in the use of polycaprolactone in the production of knee meniscus scaffold

Meniscus injuries are one of the most important causes of premature osteoarthritis in the knee. Meniscal rupture affects local biomechanical properties and load distribution of the joint. In order to reconstruct the integrity of the meniscal structure and enhance regeneration of meniscal tissue a personalized scaffold may be used. The choice of materials and method of scaffold fabrication remain challenges for researchers. Polycaprolactone is considered as a suitable material for meniscal scaffold due to its biocompatibility and good mechanical characteristics.

Purpose of the study is to evaluate the feasibility of polycaprolactone filament use to create a knee joint meniscus scaffold using 3D printing technology.

Materials and methods: a meniscus scaffold virtual prototype was created and scaffold was constructed after model using a polycaprolactone filament (molecular weight = 50kDa) on an FDM 3D printer Flashforge Guider 2s. The evaluation of the material was carried out by imaging the scaffold on a OLYMPUS SZ51 optical microscope. The study of destruction temperature was performed using a synchronous thermal analyzer STA 6000 and investigation of the chemical structure of the IR-Fourier spectroscopy of multiple disturbed total internal reflection (MNPVO) on the Spectrum Two ("Perkin-Elmer", USA).

Results: The temperature of the 3D printer extruder changes the physicochemical properties of polycaprolactone, which limits the ability to control the size of pores and scaffold beams. The characteristics of the final product do not allow its subsequent modification.

Conclusions: polycaprolactone based meniscal scaffolds manufacturing should be done on 3D printer with adjustable extruder temperature

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