Construction of Bacterial Cellulose Based Porous Integrated Tri‐Layer Osteochondral Scaffold via Laser‐Induced Method

ABSTRACT It is a challenge to construct the nanofibrous integrated porous scaffolds with an interface layer for osteochondral defect repair. Herein, in this paper, a laser‐induced integrated porous bacterial cellulose (IPBC) tri‐layer osteochondral scaffold with an interface layer was developed. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations indicated that nanofibrous IPBC scaffolds with diverse pore intervals were fabricated. These scaffolds were comprised of a cartilage layer possessing a pore size of ~200 μm, a subchondral bone layer with a pore size of around 400 μm, and a dense interface layer having a thickness in the range of 100–200 μm. Among all the scaffolds, the IPBC scaffolds with a pore interval of 1.0 mm exhibited the most outstanding cell proliferation ability. Immunofluorescence and alkaline phosphatase staining results showed that the IPBC scaffold exhibited a better ability to promote chondrogenic and osteogenic differentiation and thus is the candidate material for osteochondral defects repair.