Bone-derived CAD library for assembly of scaffolds in computer-aided tissue engineering

Abstract

To aid in the development of scaffolds for tissue engineering, we propose a library of architectures (unit primitives) that may be strategically merged according to various characteristics. In particular, for bone, mechanical characteristics such as the regional stiffness, micro-architectural levels of mechanical surface strain, void fraction amount and orientation, as well as permeability and other parameters will be critical both individually and in concert. As relationships between the aforementioned parameters are elucidated, the potential to successfully engineer scaffolds improves. Here we expound upon previous research of creating assembled scaffolds from derived analytical shapes, extending it to encompass native human trabecular bone architecture, derived from repeated patterns witnessed in the interior portion of human vertebrae. Several results are reported; namely, the description of numerous tissue primitives and interfaces with commentary on their morphological characteristics, the integration of unit-blocks into a global assembly using a regional bone density map, and their assembly.

Keywords:

• computer aided tissue engineering
• tissue primitive
• functional tissue
• mechanobiology

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Christopher Chen for his assistance in primitive identification and NSF-ITR as the funding source for this study.