© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Electrostimulation and electroactive scaffolds can positively influence and guide cellular behaviour and thus has been garnering interest as a key tissue engineering strategy. The development of conducting polymers such as polyaniline enables the fabrication of conductive polymeric composite scaffolds. In this study, we report on the initial development of a polycaprolactone scaffold incorporating different weight loadings of a polyaniline microparticle filler. The scaffolds are fabricated using screw-assisted extrusion-based 3D printing and are characterised for their morphological, mechanical, conductivity, and preliminary biological properties. The conductivity of the polycaprolactone scaffolds increases with the inclusion of polyaniline. The in vitro cytocompatibility of the scaffolds was assessed using human adipose-derived stem cells to determine cell viability and proliferation up to 21 days. A cytotoxicity threshold was reached at 1% wt. polyaniline loading. Scaffolds with 0.1% wt. polyaniline showed suitable compressive strength (6.45 ± 0.16 MPa) and conductivity (2.46 ± 0.65 x 10-4 S/cm) for bone tissue engineering applications and demonstrated the highest cell viability at day 1 (88%) with cytocompatibility for up to 21 days in cell culture.

3-D printing,Biological properties,Bone tissue engineering,Electro actives,Human adipose derived stem cells,Initial development,Polycaprolactone scaffolds,Polymeric composites

3D printing,Electroactive scaffold,Polyaniline,Tissue engineering

[{‘$’: ‘Acknowledgments: The authors wish to acknowledge the funding provided by the Indonesian Ministry for Research, Technology and Higher Education Overseas Collaboration Research Fund (No. 436.11/I1.C08/PL-DIKTI/2018) and the United Kingdom’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Medical Research Council (MRC) Centre for Doctoral Training in Regenerative Medicine (EP/L014904/1). The authors would like to thank the World Class University program, Institut Teknologi Bandung, for their support; the Research Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Institut Teknologi Bandung, for utilisation of their characterisation facilities; Lia Asri for fruitful discussion; Andrew Wallwork, University of Manchester, for his expertise in ball milling and particle size characterisation; and the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, University of Manchester, for hosting visiting researchers.’}, {‘$’: “The authors wish to acknowledge the funding provided by the Indonesian Ministry for Research, Technology and Higher Education Overseas Collaboration Research Fund (No. 436.11/I1. C08/PL-DIKTI/2018) and the United Kingdom’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Medical Research Council (MRC) Centre for Doctoral Training in Regenerative Medicine (EP/L014904/1). The authors would like to thank the World Class University program, Institut Teknologi Bandung, for their support; the Research Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Institut Teknologi Bandung, for utilisation of their characterisation facilities; Lia Asri for fruitful discussion; Andrew Wallwork, University of Manchester, for his expertise in ball milling and particle size characterisation; and the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, University of Manchester, for hosting visiting researchers.”}]

https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13030512