A comparative study of the porous structure of a scaffold for effective tissue-engineered bone regeneration

To develop a suitable scaffold for tissue-engineered bone regeneration, we compared the efficiency of tissue-engineered bone regeneration according to the porous structure of calcium metaphosphate (CMP) ceramic scaffolds. Each scaffold was prepared with a sponge method and a foam-gel method, respectively. Both scaffolds, having either interconnected trabecular pores formed by the sponge method or fully interconnected globular pores formed by the foam-based technology, were not cytotoxic and elicited neither an immune nor an inflammatory response regardless of geometry and fabrication method. The fully interconnected globular porous scaffold showed more favorable compression strength and facilitated osteogenic repair by favoring cellular attachment and osteogenic differentiation with good osteoconductivity compared to the interconnected trabecular pore structured scaffold. These results suggest that the fully interconnected globular porous structure would be more suitable for both a bone substitute and scaffold for bioactive material-based or cell-based tissue bone regeneration.