The effect of larger than cell diameter polylactic acid surface patterns on osteogenic differentiation of rat dental pulp stem cells

Abstract Topography of the scaffold is one of the most important factors defining the quality of artificial bone. However, the production of precise micro‐ and nano‐structured scaffolds, which is known to enhance osteogenic differentiation, is expensive and time‐consuming. Meanwhile, little is known about macro‐patterns (larger than cell diameter) effect on cell fate, while this kind of structures would significantly facilitate the manufacturing of artificial skeleton. Therefore, this research is focused on polylactic acid scaffold's macro‐pattern impact on rat's dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) morphology, proliferation, and osteogenic differentiation. For this study, two types of scaffolds were 3D printed: wavy and porous. Wavy scaffolds consisted of 188 μm wide joined threads, meaning that cells might have been curved on the filament as well as compressed in the groove. Porous scaffolds were designed to avoid groove formation and consisted of 500 μm threads, arranged in the woodpile manner, forming 300 μm diameter pores. We found that both macro‐surfaces influenced DPSC morphology compared to control. As a consequence, enhanced DPSC proliferation and increased osteogenic differentiation potential was registered in cells grown on these scaffolds. Finally, our results showed that the construction of an artificial bone did not necessarily require the precise structuring of the scaffold, because both types of macro‐topographic PLA scaffolds were sufficient enough to induce spontaneous DPSC osteogenic differentiation. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 107A: 174–186, 2019.