New computational tools and experiments reveal how geometry affects tissue growth in 3D printed scaffolds

Understanding how tissue growth in porous scaffolds is influenced by geometry is a fundamental challenge in the field of tissue engineering. We investigate the influence of pore geometry on tissue growth using osteoblastic cells in 3D printed melt electrowritten scaffolds with square-shaped pores and non-square pores with wave-shaped boundaries. Using a reaction–diffusion model together with a likelihood-based uncertainty quantification framework, we quantify how the cellular mechanisms of cell migration and cell proliferation drive tissue growth for each pore geometry. Our results show that the rates of cell migration and cell proliferation appear to be largely independent of the pore geometries considered, suggesting that observed curvature effects on local rates of tissue growth are due to space availability rather than directly affecting cell behaviour. This result allows for simple squared-shaped pores to be used for estimating parameters and making predictions about tissue growth in more realistic pores with more realistic, complicated shapes. Our findings have important implications for the development of predictive tools for tissue engineering and experimental design, highlighting new avenues for future research.