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3D printing of personalized polylactic acid scaffold laden with GelMA/autologous auricle cartilage to promote ear reconstruction

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Abstract

At present, the clinical reconstruction of the auricle usually adopts the strategy of taking autologous costal cartilage. This method has great trauma to patients, poor plasticity and inaccurate shaping. Three-dimensional (3D) printing technology has made a great breakthrough in the clinical application of orthopedic implants. This study explored the combination of 3D printing and tissue engineering to precisely reconstruct the auricle. First, a polylactic acid (PLA) polymer scaffold with a precisely customized patient appearance was fabricated, and then auricle cartilage fragments were loaded into the 3D-printed porous PLA scaffold to promote auricle reconstruction. In vitro, gelatin methacrylamide (GelMA) hydrogels loaded with different sizes of rabbit ear cartilage fragments were studied to assess the regenerative activity of various autologous cartilage fragments. In vivo, rat ear cartilage fragments were placed in an accurately designed porous PLA polymer ear scaffold to promote auricle reconstruction. The results indicated that the chondrocytes in the cartilage fragments could maintain the morphological phenotype in vitro. After three months of implantation observation, it was conducive to promoting the subsequent regeneration of cartilage in vivo. The autologous cartilage fragments combined with 3D printing technology show promising potential in auricle reconstruction.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81171731), the Project of Chengdu Science and Technology Bureau (Nos. 2021-YF05-01619-SN and 2021-RC05-00022-CG), the Science and Technology Project of Tibet Autonomous Region (Nos. XZ202202YD0013C and XZ201901-GB-08), the Sichuan Science and Technology Program (No. 2022YFG0066), and the 1·3·5 Project for Disciplines of Excellence, West China Hospital, Sichuan University (Nos. ZYJC21026, ZYGD21001 and ZYJC21077).

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Author notes

  1. Xingyu Gui and Zhiyu Peng have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610064, China

    Xingyu Gui, Ping Song, Xiujuan Xu, Zixuan Su, Changchun Zhou, Yujiang Fan & Xingdong Zhang

  2. Department of Thoracic Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, China

    Zhiyu Peng

  3. Analytical and Testing Center, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610064, China

    Li Chen

  4. College of Biomedical Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610064, China

    Xingyu Gui, Ping Song, Xiujuan Xu, Zixuan Su, Changchun Zhou, Yujiang Fan & Xingdong Zhang

  5. Department of Burn and Plastic Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, China

    Hairui Li, Pei Tang, Yixi Wang, Zhenyu Zhang, Zhengyong Li & Ying Cen

  6. Department of Orthopedics, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, China

    Qingquan Kong

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  1. Xingyu Gui
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Contributions

CCZ, YJF and XDZ conceived and designed the experiments. XYG, PS and ZYP performed the experiments. LC and XJX prepared the figures. HRL and PT consulted the relevant literature. XYG, YXW and ZXS analyzed the data. QQK and ZYZ provided guidance on cell and animal experiments. XYG, PS and CCZ wrote the paper. YJF, ZYL and YC made revisions to the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Changchun Zhou or Yujiang Fan.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All experiments were approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee of Sichuan University (KS2019022-2).

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Gui, X., Peng, Z., Song, P. et al. 3D printing of personalized polylactic acid scaffold laden with GelMA/autologous auricle cartilage to promote ear reconstruction. Bio-des. Manuf. 6, 451–463 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42242-023-00242-6

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