Mass transport characteristic and biocompatibility of demand-guided structural biomaterials

Structural biomaterials have garnered widespread attention for their potential applications in regenerative medicine, particularly in the repair of bone tissue defect repair. However, the absence of a personalized design often results in a mismatch between the structural biomaterials and the repaired tissue, thereby limiting the effectiveness of the repair. Hence, the demand-guided structural biomaterials for skull defect repair have been identified, with an emphasis on personalized design factor, mass transport characteristics and biocompatibility. Initially, the titanium alloy demand-guided structural biomaterials with different characteristics as body-centered cubic configuration are fabricated by additive manufacturing. The crystalline phase and element content percentage of fabricated specimen are observed by XRD patterns and EDS analysis. The permeability, serving as a marker for assessing mass transport capability, is evaluated using both the falling head method and computational fluid dynamics simulation. In generally, the permeability results, which can range from 0.41 × 10^-8 m² to 10.92 × 10^-8 m², demonstrate a strong correlation with bone. The cell assay substantiates that the demand-guided structural biomaterials exhibit commendable biocompatibility, encompassing both cell viability and osteogenic differentiation. Owing to their superior mass transport properties, cytocompatibility, and osteogenic differentiation capabilities, demand-guided structural biomaterials hold significant potential for the repair of skull defect repair.