Comparison of poly(ε-caprolactone) and poly(lactic acid) three- dimensional printed scaffolds loaded with curcumin for periodontitis treatment

Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease, affecting the supporting tissues of the teeth, leading to tooth loss if left untreated. Current treatments aim to eliminate the bacteria responsible for the disease and in more severe cases to replace a significant amount of alveolar bone that has been destroyed. However, with the above treatments side effects are often observed, such as post-operative inflammation or the recurrence of bacterial infection that could potentially harm the remaining healthy alveolar bone [1]. Thus, alternative strategies are being explored, such as the utilisation of multi-layered porous and biocompatible scaffolds, that can be fabricated with three-dimensional (3D) printing technology. These constructs serve as the basis for regenerating bone tissue at the defect area. On top of that, incorporating a bioactive agent inside the scaffold exerts a therapeutic effect towards the inhibition of bacterial recurrence and the healing of the damaged tissue accompanying the regeneration of alveolar bone.

In this context, the present study aimed to expand our previous work [2] by fabricating poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) and poly(lactic acid) (PLA) 3D-printed scaffolds, loaded with the naturally-occurring bioactive molecule curcumin and Curcuma longa extract (10 wt.% based on polymer weight), which possess anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti-oxidant and anti-septic properties [3]. Neat and drug-loaded 3D printed scaffolds were fabricated using a bioprinter (BIO X, Cellink, Sweden) and were subsequently characterised in terms of their morphology (optical microscopy, SEM), physicochemical properties (DSC, TGA, FTIR, Raman), drug entrapment efficiency and release kinetics.

Funding This research has been co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union and Greek national funds through the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, under the call RESEARCH – CREATE – INNOVATE (project code: T2EDK-01641).

 

MissingLinkText

• References

• 1 Pihlstrom B, Michalowicz B, Johnson N.. Periodontal disease. Lancet 2005; 366: 1809-1820
• 2 Arampatzis A, Karra A, Kyrilas E, Kampasakali E, Tsalikis L, Barmpalexis P, Christofilos D, Assimopoulou A.. Bioactive 3D printed scaffolds for the treatment of periodontal diseases. Planta Med 2022; 88: 1577
• 3 Ahangari N, Kargozar S, Ghayour-Mobarhan M, Baino F, Pasdar A, Sahebkar A, Ferns G, Kim H, Mozafari M.. Curcumin in tissue engineering: A traditional remedy for modern medicine. BioFactors 2019; 45: 135-151

Publikationsverlauf

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
16. November 2023