Pore architecture effects on chondrogenic potential of patient-specific 3-dimensionally printed porous tissue bioscaffolds for auricular tissue engineering.

Objective: This study aims to determine the effect of auricular scaffold microarchitecture on chondrogenic potential in an in vivo animal model.

Methods: DICOM computed tomography (CT) images of a human auricle were segmented to create an external anatomic envelope. Image-based design was used to generate 1) orthogonally interconnected spherical pores and 2) randomly interspersed pores, and each were repeated in three dimensions to fill the external auricular envelope.

Biomechanical evaluation of human and porcine auricular cartilage.

Objectives/hypothesis: The mechanical properties of normal auricular cartilage provide a benchmark against which to characterize changes in auricular structure/function due to genetic defects creating phenotypic abnormalities in collagen subtypes. Such properties also provide inputs/targets for auricular reconstruction scaffold design. Several studies report the biomechanical properties for septal, costal, and articular cartilage.

Computer aided-designed, 3-dimensionally printed porous tissue bioscaffolds for craniofacial soft tissue reconstruction.

Objective: To determine the potential of an integrated, image-based computer-aided design (CAD) and 3-dimensional (3D) printing approach to engineer scaffolds for head and neck cartilaginous reconstruction for auricular and nasal reconstruction.

Study Design: Proof of concept revealing novel methods for bioscaffold production with in vitro and in vivo animal data.

Setting: Multidisciplinary effort encompassing 2 academic institutions.

Mechanical characterization and non-linear elastic modeling of poly(glycerol sebacate) for soft tissue engineering.

Scaffold tissue engineering strategies for repairing and replacing soft tissue aim to improve reconstructive and corrective surgical techniques whose limitations include suboptimal mechanical properties, fibrous capsule formation and volume loss due to graft resorption. An effective tissue engineering strategy requires a scaffolding material with low elastic modulus that behaves similarly to soft tissue, which has been characterized as a nonlinear elastic material. The material must also have the ability to be manufactured into specifically designed architectures.

Effect of polycaprolactone scaffold permeability on bone regeneration in vivo.

Successful bone tissue engineering depends on the scaffold's ability to allow nutrient diffusion to and waste removal from the regeneration site, as well as provide an appropriate mechanical environment. Since bone is highly vascularized, scaffolds that provide greater mass transport may support increased bone regeneration. Permeability encompasses the salient features of three-dimensional porous scaffold architecture effects on scaffold mass transport.