The effect of interface microstructure on interfacial shear strength for osteochondral scaffolds based on biomimetic design and 3D printing

Interface integration between chondral phase and osseous phase is crucial in engineered osteochondral scaffolds. However, the integration was poorly understood and commonly failed to meet the need of osteochondral scaffolds. In this paper, a biphasic polyethylene glycol (PEG)/β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) scaffold with enhanced interfacial integration was developed. The chondral phase was a PEG hydrogel. The osseous phase was a β-TCP ceramic scaffold. The PEG hydrogel was directly cured on the ceramic interface layer by layer to fabricate osteochondral scaffolds by 3D printing technology. Meanwhile, a series of interface structure were designed with different interface pore area percentages (0/10/20/30/40/50/60%), and interfacial shear test was applied for interface structure optimization (n = 6 samples/group). The interfacial shear strength of 30% pore area group was nearly three folds improved compared with that of 0% pore area percentage group, and more than fifty folds improved compared with that of traditional integration (5.91 ± 0.59 kPa). In conclusion, the biomimetic PEG/β-TCP scaffolds with interface structure enhanced integration show promising potential application for osteochondral tissue engineering.