RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To study the biocompatibility of bone engineering scaffolds designed and fabricated by CAD and Rapid Prototyping techniques. METHODS: Infant rat calvarias osteoblasts were isolated and expanded in vitro and the cells (2nd passage) were seeded onto scaffolds with porosity 80%, 90%, 95% at a density of 2.06 x 10(9)/L. Cell adhesion number and morphology were measured with SEM after 4 days, 10 days co-culture. RESULTS: (1) The osteoblasts' adhesion amounts increased with culture time in three porosity group (P < 0.05), but the increase were different among three groups, 80% group was 0.35 x 10(5), 90% group was 2.84 x 10(5); (2) Through SEM observations, it showed that osteoblasts adhered to all scaffolds well. CONCLUSION: The scaffolds designed and fabricated by CAD and rapid prototyping own a good cellular biocompatibility. The results suggest the feasibility of using such scaffold fabricating method for bone tissue engineering research and clinical therapy.