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theses

With over 500,000 bone grafting procedures performed annually in the United States alone, the advancement of bone tissue regeneration has come to the forefront of medical research [1,2]. While native bone tissue does possess a limited ability to repair itself, surgical intervention is required for injuries with critical sized defects. Autografts and allografts are the accepted gold standard treatment options; however, their application is limited by donor site morbidity and disease transmission, respectively [2]. Although various tissue-engineered approaches have been explored to develop a viable synthetic bone graft substitute, a major challenge has been achieving a load-bearing design that can appropriately mimic the mechanical properties of native bone tissue [1]. To address the issue, this study focuses on using hydroxyapatite (HAp)—a calcium phosphate derivative similar to the inorganic mineral found in bone—to develop a structurally reinforced scaffold, which exhibits the mechanical properties of native whole bone. HAp packed into a cylindrical framework was processed under varying conditions (sintering time, sintering temperature, packing pressure, and hydroxyapatite grain size) to maximize its mechanical properties. The resulting HAp columns were further tested in a 6-week degradation study, to determine the physical and mechanical response of the columns under biological conditions. The cellular response of sintered HAp columns was determined using murine preosteoblast cell line MC3T3-E1. Cell viability, metabolic activity, and morphology were studied over a one-week period. To structurally reinforce a composite trabecular and cortical bone scaffold that was previously developed in the MoTR Lab [1], Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was used to determine the columns’ geometric configuration and arrangement within the scaffold. Preliminary results indicate that the incorporation of a mechanically enhanced HAp structural support system is a promising step towards developing one of the first load-bearing bone scaffolds that can also promote osteoblastic and vascular differentiation.

ETD_7864

M.S.

Includes bibliographical references

by Pushpendra Pankaj Patel

doi:10.7282/T31C20BF

ETD graduate

The author owns the copyright to this work.