2022, Vol. 26 ›› Issue (28): 4472-4476

Analysis of adhesion and permeability of bone scaffold with Voronoi architecture

Wu Li, Huang Wei, Li Xuetao, Li Panpan, Zhang Kaihang, Shen Zhiyuan   

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Bone tissue engineering research results have found that the adhesion and permeability of Voronoi bone scaffold are important parameters that affect bone tissue engineering scaffolds. Good adhesiveness can ensure bone cells stick to the scaffold, and promote the bone tissue regeneration. Excellent permeability can increase the transportation of nutrients and metabolic waste in the body.   
OBJECTIVE:   To study the adhesiveness and permeability of the bone scaffolds with Voronoi architecture.
METHODS:   Taking Voronoi bone scaffold as the research object, its structure was modeled by Rhino software. The permeability and adhesion inside the bone scaffold were analyzed by means of computational fluid dynamics. The number of seed points was set to 20, 25, 30, and the scaling factors were 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, respectively, to explore the correspondence between the porosity and the permeability.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1)   The Voronoi bone scaffold structure designed by Rhino software had an average adhesion layer thickness of 0.061-0.116 mm, which had a certain adhesion capacity. Its porosity was largely determined by the scaling factor. With the continuous increase of the scaling factor, the porosity tended to rise. Within the range of the selected structural design parameters, when the scaling factor was 0.4, the porosity of the scaffold with different seed points was the smallest, which was 33.78%, 33.87%, and 33.90%, respectively. When the scaling factor was 0.8, the porosity of the scaffold structure with different seed points was the largest, which was 84.28%, 84.35%, and 84.38%, respectively. (2) The increase in the porosity had a significant impact on the permeability of the scaffold structure. With the increases of the porosity, the permeability of the bone scaffold structure rose. In the designed scaffold structure, the permeability increased from 16.98×10-8 m2 to 82.29×10-8 m2 with the increase of the porosity. (3) The relationship between the porosity of the scaffold structure and the permeability is obtained, which provides a basis for the prediction of the permeability of the bone scaffold and the analysis of the biological performance of the complex structure bone scaffold.
Key words: bone scaffold, computational fluid dynamics, adhesion, permeability, Voronoi, bone tissue engineering, biological performance