Ricerc@Sapienza

In this study, we present an innovative strategy to reinforce 3D printed hydrogel constructs for cartilage tissue engineering by formulating composite bioinks containing alginate and short submicron polylactide (PLA) fibers.Wedemonstrate that Young’s modulus obtained for pristine alginate constructs (6.9?±?1.7 kPa) can be increased threefold (up to 25.1?±?3.8 kPa) with the addition of PLA short fibers.

Degradation of post-consumer PLA to lactic acid was analysed in order to assess the economic feasibility of the PLA chemical recycling process. Hydrolysis of PLA, in batch reactor, was analysed in the temperature range of 443-473K, under autogenous pressure and a constant PLA to water ratio (equal to approximately 0.11 by weight), without the use of a catalyst. The experimental results suggest that the complete degradation of PLA can be obtained using relatively low reaction-times with the production of a mixture containing the monomer and traces of the dimer of lactic acid.