Hi Sahar,

It depends of course a lot on your materials of choice, but in general I would say that 3D printed and FD scaffolds give you an advantage in terms of structural integrity and mechanical properties (you might get closer to physiological bone properties with these technologies).

On the other hand hydrogels have a very high water content that more closely mimics the one of human tissues. This might be useful for better biocompatibility and overall biological properties. In addition, in my experience hydrogels have superior properties in terms of drug delivery and oxygen permeability.

It is also important to remember to take into account the possible harmful/degradative effects of the fabrication technique on the drug you are planning to delivery. Some techniques could inactivate your molecule of choice with high temperatures, high pH or other mechanisms.

Here a couple of publications as food for thoughts:

http://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31549696/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352940720303711

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167577X18309522

Dear Lukas Gritsch

Thank you so much for your informative and detailed answer to my question. as what you said due to better properties for drug delivery and also oxygen delivery it might be a better option to opt hydrogel for this application. I need to go through your publication suggestions as well to get more information.

Thanks a bunch

Sahar

Glad to be helpful :)

Specifically regarding oxygen delivery and hydrogels I would also suggest the following paper, if you do not know it already: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33973004/

Thanks dear Lukas Gritsch

oxygen delivery seems to be the most challenging part of this project, your suggested paper opens a new door of my research challenges.

Regards,

Sahar

Due to high capacity of hydrogel to retaining oxygen inside, I guess hydrogel would be more suitable for this case.

But, if bone cancer causes bone distruction, you should pay more attention to 3D scaffold because of closer mechanical properties.

Or based on your case, you can design a hybrid scaffold with various proportion of smooth and hard sections.

Bests,

Dear Amir Hossein Bahmanpour

Thanks a bunch for your answer. A hybrid scaffold seems to be so much exciting and it really brightened up my mind, thanks for that, but I suppose designing a scaffold which presents both characteristics of hydrogel and a 3D printed would be a challenge indeed, though I think it worth trying as well :)