Effect of Geometrical Features in Biodegradable Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering: A Numerical Analysis

Culture of living cells using scaffolds and bioreactors to mimic the natural environment of native tissue as close and possible allows to better understand the mechano-biological parameters involved. In this context, the architecture of biodegradable scaffolds contributes to control some of these key parameters such as permeability and fluid flow-induced shear stress. However, these studies are very time-consuming and costly. As a complement to in vitro research on the influence of these parameters, the use of numerical models plays here a key role to predict the mechano-biological outcomes. In this study, the effect of biodegradable scaffold’s architecture on the above-mentioned parameters was computationally investigated. For this purpose, eight orthogonal and non-orthogonal scaffolds including graded and non-graded porous models under dynamic cell culture conditions were explored. The results suggest 60GRAD geometry as the best candidate for bone tissue engineering. The findings of this work can be used to design better biodegradable scaffolds in this research field.