Obtaining a fused PLA-calcium phosphate-tobramycin-based filament for 3D printing with potential antimicrobial application

Lopera, Alex A.; Bezzon, Vinicius D. N.; Ospina, Victoria; Higuita-Castro, Jorge L.; Ramirez, Francisco J.; Ferraz, Humberto G.; Orlando, Marcos T. A.; Paucar, Carlos G.; Robledo, Sara M.; Garcia, Claudia P.; Lopera, Alex A.; Bezzon, Vinicius D. N.; Ospina, Victoria; Higuita-Castro, Jorge L.; Ramirez, Francisco J.; Ferraz, Humberto G.; Orlando, Marcos T. A.; Paucar, Carlos G.; Robledo, Sara M.; Garcia, Claudia P.

doi:2023.60.1.169

J. Korean Ceram. Soc. > Volume 60(1); 2023 > Article

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society 2023;60(1): 169-182.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43207-022-00255-4

Obtaining a fused PLA-calcium phosphate-tobramycin-based filament for 3D printing with potential antimicrobial application

Alex A. Lopera^1,2

, Vinicius D. N. Bezzon³, Victoria Ospina⁴, Jorge L. Higuita-Castro⁴, Francisco J. Ramirez⁵, Humberto G. Ferraz⁶, Marcos T. A. Orlando³, Carlos G. Paucar¹, Sara M. Robledo⁴, Claudia P. Garcia¹

¹Grupo de Cerámicos y Vítreos, Escuela de Física, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Calle 59A.63-20, 050034 Medellín, Colombia
²Grupo de Nanoestructuras y Física Aplicada (NANOUPAR), Dirección Académica, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede de La Paz, Km 9 vía Valledupar La Paz, 200001 La Paz, Colombia
³Grupo de Física Aplicada, Departamento de Física, Centro de Ciências Exatas, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo , Av. Fernando Ferrari, 514-Goiabeiras, Vitória, ES 29075-910, Brazil
⁴PECET-Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Antioquia, Calle 70 No. 52-21, 050010 Medellín, Colombia
⁵Faculty of Engineering, Mechanical Department, Institución Universitaria Pascual Bravo, Calle 73 No. 73A–226, 050034 Medellín, Colombia
⁶Laboratório de Desenvolvimento e Inovação Farmacotécnica (DEINFAR), Departamento de Farmácia, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP CEP 05508-080, Brazil

Correspondence

Alex A. Lopera ,Email: aalopera@unal.edu.co

Received: April 23, 2022; Revised: August 3, 2022 Accepted: September 24, 2022. Published online: October 12, 2022.

ABSTRACT

Many efforts in the tissue engineering field have been devoted to producing biomedical devices with several physico-chemical properties that could promote an increase in the quality of therapeutic treatments. Thus, 3D printing is an efficient method which facilitates manufacturing high quality products to be used as medical devices. However, high-performance materials are required for obtaining products that are able to be 3D printed to attend the biomedical concerns. In this work, fused PLA-calcium phosphate-tobramycin-based filaments with antimicrobial properties were produced. X-ray powder diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermal analysis were performed to characterize the pure compounds as well as the composite filaments, revealing that the drug is preserved into the filaments by the implemented methodology, even after the hot extrusion procedure. The filaments and the printed pieces presented great antimicrobial effect and a controlled-release profile was also observed by the drug-release assays for the filaments produced, thereby indicating this material as a promising candidate to be used for implantable medical devices in the future.

Key words: 3D printing · Filaments · Calcium phosphates · Tobramycin · Scaffolds · Antimicrobial