A novel 3D printable scaffold more like native soft tissues for pelvic floor and other soft tissue disorders
A new, flexible, biodegradable scaffolding built by 3D printable biopolymers is a promising step toward more personalized and effective treatments for soft tissue injuries, including pelvic floor disorders, which affect millions of women globally.
The biopolymers and scaffolding were developed by a research team at the University of Georgia including four faculty from the New Materials Institute, and their collaborators at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, the Arizona State University in Tempe, Northeastern University in Massachusetts, the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health system, and a biotech startup based in Athens called 123DTechs Inc.
Synthetic meshes currently used as scaffolding implants to aid in soft tissue recovery, like hernia repairs, have limited mechanical features to help support the tissues, and they can lead to complications such as inflammation and erosion, resulting in chronic pain for the patient. There is a strong market demand for more flexible and biocompatible scaffolding options to support the soft tissues that support the pelvic and other organs. Pelvic tissues are often weakened by childbirth, obesity, and other medical issues, and can lead to chronic incontinence and pain.
The UGA NMI researchers created the biopolymer from polyvinyl alcohol, or PVA, then functionalized it, and utilized dual crosslinking strategies to create a material with strength, stability and flexibility. By using 3D printing techniques, the resulting mesh is customizable, making the scaffolding more biocompatible with its specific subject.
The team implanted their scaffolding in mice and found no signs of inflammation, tissue damage, or infection in the subjects 28 days later. The material also underwent tensile testing, dynamic mechanical analysis, and thermal stability testing.
The team’s study found the PVA scaffold offered greater flexibility with reduced stiffness and strength, by design, which helped prevent tissue damage, as compared to commercially available hernia mesh samples.
“3D printable biopolymers as pelvic floors scaffolds” was recently published in the journal Polymer Chemistry based on the previous publication 3D printable hydrogel with tunable degradability and mechanical properties as a tissue scaffold for pelvic organ prolapse treatment published on Advanced Materials Technologies. Study authors are led by Yuxiang Zhu doing all material synthesis, characterizations and 3D printing, Xianquao Wang helping with modeling, Yang Liu, Johnny Yi, Jeffrey L. Cornella, Hitesh Handa, Elizabeth J. Brisbois, Jessica N. Lancaster responsible for cellular and animal studies, and Kenan Song in charge of the entire project management.
Prof. Wang, Liu, Handa, Brisbois and Song are all based in the UGA College of Engineering; Dr. Zhu is from the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University and now a scientist working at West Digital; Liang, from 123Techs Inc.; Sun, from the College of Engineering at Northeastern University; Stoll, Pulido, Yi, Cornella and Lancaster, from the Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Arizona; and McIlwee, from the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center. Wang, Handa, Brisbois and Song are all faculty in the UGA New Materials Institute. Handa, Song and Liu are also faculty in the UGA Regenerative Bioscience Center.