Appl Bionics Biomech. 2017;2017:8949264. doi: 10.1155/2017/8949264. Epub 2017 Dec 13.

Cell Colonization Ability of a Commercialized Large Porous Alveolar Scaffold.

Lemonnier S¹, Bouderlique T^2,3,4, Naili S¹, Rouard H³, Courty J², Chevallier N³, Albanese P², Lemaire T¹.

Abstract

The use of filling biomaterials or tissue-engineered large bone implant-coupling biocompatible materials and human bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells seems to be a promising approach to treat critical-sized bone defects. However, the cellular seeding onto and into large porous scaffolds still remains challenging since this process highly depends on the porous microstructure. Indeed, the cells may mainly colonize the periphery of the scaffold, leaving its volume almost free of cells. In this study, we carry out an in vitro study to analyze the ability of a commercialized scaffold to be in vivo colonized by cells. We investigate the influence of various physical parameters on the seeding efficiency of a perfusion seeding protocol using large manufactured bone substitutes. The present study shows that the velocity of the perfusion fluid and the initial cell density seem to impact the seeding results and to have a negative effect on the cellular viability, whereas the duration of the fluid perfusion and the nature of the flow (steady versus pulsed) did not show any influence on either the fraction of seeded cells or the cellular viability rate. However, the cellular repartition after seeding remains highly heterogeneous.