Submitted:
16 November 2022
Posted:
21 November 2022
You are already at the latest version
Abstract
Methacrylated silk (Sil-MA) is a chemically modified silk fibroin specifically designed to be crosslinkable under UV light. This allows the structuring of this material throught additive manufacturing techniques and then to easily prototype patient specific construct. In this study we used Sil-MA to produce single layer crosslinked structures that can be withdrawal and ejected recovering their shape after rehydration. A complete chemical and physical characterization of the material has been conducted. Additionally, we tested the material biocompatibility according to the International Standard Organization protocols (ISO 10993) ensuring the possibility to use it in future trials. The material was also tested to verify its ability to support the osteogenesis. Two different additive manufacturing techniques have been tested (a Digital Light Processing (DLP) UV projector and a pneumatic extrusion technique) to develop Sil-MA grid. Finally, we provide a proof-of-concept that the printed Sil-MA structures are injectable.
Keywords:
Silk Fibroin
; Sil-MA
; 3D Printing
; Additive Manufacturing
; Tissue Engineering
; Bioprinting
; Bone Tissue Engineering
Copyright: This open access article is published under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, which permit the free download, distribution, and reuse, provided that the author and preprint are cited in any reuse.