Luis Guilherme Silva Rosa

Visiting PhD student (Santa Catarina State University, Brazil)

Chitosan/mesoporous bioglass coating by electrophoretic deposition on PLA scaffolds

Supervisor in Brazil: Prof. Dr. Daniela Becker

Supervisor in Erlangen: Prof. Dr. Aldo R. Boccaccini

In tissue engineering, there is need to develop bioactive 3D scaffolds [1]. Poly (lactic acid) (PLA) is a common biodegradable polymer for scaffold fabrication due to its biocompatibility, mechanical properties, and ease of processing. However, the polymer does not exhibit sufficient hydrophilicity and lacks bioactivity [2], necessitating modification through the insertion of bioactive agents, for example bioactive glass or bioceramic particles [2]. The insertion of ceramic particles directly onto the polymer matrix can catalyse the polymer’s early degradation [3], so one alternative is to deposit the bioactive agent directly onto the scaffold’s surface. Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) is a fast and versatile technique based on the migration of particles through an externally applied electric field and can be used to modify the scaffold’s surface [4]. Thus, this work aims to develop an EPD based technique to deposit bioactive glass (nano)particle on PLA scaffolds.  Different treatments are studied to modify the PLA surface to achieve improved particle adhesion. The project is supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq, Project n/o 404320/2024-4 – “Bioactive PLA scaffolds obtained via electrophoretic deposition).

[1] Ma, H., Suonan, A., Zhou, J., Yuan, Q., Liu, L., Zhao, X., Lou, X., Yang, C., Li, D., & Zhang, Y.-G. (2021). PEEK (polyether-ether-ketone) and its composite materials in orthopedic implantation. Arabian Journal of Chemistry, 14(3), 102977. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arabjc.2020.102977

[2] Rezwan, K., Chen, Q. Z., Blaker, J. J., & Boccaccini, A. R. (2006). Biodegradable and bioactive porous polymer/inorganic composite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. Biomaterials, 27(18), 3413–3431. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2006.01.039

[3] Backes, E. H., de Nóbile Pires, L., Selistre-de-Araujo, H. S., Costa, L. C., Passador, F. R., & Pessan, L. A. (2020). Development and characterization of printable PLA/β-TCP bioactive composites for bone tissue applications. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 138, e49759. https://doi.org/10.1002/app.49759

[4] Boccaccini, A. R., Keim, S., Ma, R., Li, Y., & Zhitomirsky, I. (2010). Electrophoretic deposition of biomaterials. Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 7(Suppl 5), S581–S613. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2010.0156.focus