AccScience Publishing / IJB / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/IJB025410415
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Early Access

Electrohydrodynamically printed microfibrous scaffolds with different pore sizes regulate macrophage polarization and foreign body reaction to enhance bone regeneration

 

Junzheng Liu1,4† Zijie Meng2,4,5,6† Jiaming Yu3 Qin Guo1 Jiahao Zhang1 Yulin Wang1 Le Jia1 Jiankang He4,5,6* Wei Wang1*
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1 Comprehensive Orthopedics Department, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
2 Frontier Institute of Science and Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
3 Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
4 State Key Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
5 National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) Key Laboratory for Research and Evaluation of Additive Manufacturing Medical Devices, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
6 State Industry-Education Integration Center for Medical Innovations, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
†These authors contributed equally to this work.
Received: 9 October 2025 | Accepted: 19 November 2025 | Published online: 19 November 2025
© 2025 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

Foreign body reaction (FBR) is a major obstacle to effective osseointegration in bone defect repair. The pore size of scaffolds is a key determinant of FBR; however, its impact on FBR remains controversial, with limited in vivo evidence. In this study, electrohydrodynamic-printed polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffolds with pore sizes of 100 μm, 200 μm, and 300 μm were fabricated to investigate their effects on macrophage polarization, FBR, and bone regeneration. In vitro experiments showed that the 300 μm group promoted M2 polarization of macrophages, reduced TNF-α expression (0.71- and 0.81-fold compared to the 100 μm and 200μm groups, respectively), and increased TGF-β1 expression (1.39- and 1.19-fold, respectively), thereby enhancing osteogenic gene expression in MC3T3-E1 cells (Runx2, COL-I, OCN). Finite element analysis and transcriptomics sequencing revealed that pore size-dependent changes in scaffold stiffness modulate Piezo1 activation, influencing macrophage polarization. In vivo experiments showed that the 300 μm group exhibited the thinnest fibrous capsule (0.78- and 0.79-fold compared to the 100 μm and 200 μm groups, respectively), enhanced angiogenesis, and achieved better bone regeneration, with increased bone volume/total volume and bone mineral density. These findings indicate that 300 μm pore-sized scaffolds promote bone regeneration by modulating macrophage polarization and attenuating FBR, providing a basis for optimized scaffold design and clinical translation in bone defect repair.

Keywords
Electrohydrodynamic printing
Pore size
Polarization
Foreign body reaction
Bone regeneration
Funding
This work was financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (NO. 2024YFB4607800), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52125501, 52405325, 82072522), the Cross training Support Project for Doctoral Students at Xi'an Jiaotong University (IDT2315), the Key Research Project of Shaanxi Province (2021LLRH-08), the Program for Innovation Team of Shaanxi Province (2023-CX-TD-17), the Postdoctoral Fellowship Program of CPSF (GZB20230573), the Postdoctoral Project of Shaanxi Province (2023BSHYDZZ30), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.
Conflict of interest
Jiankang He serves as the Editorial Board Member of the journal, but did not in any way involve in the editorial and peer-review process conducted for this paper, directly or indirectly. Other authors declare they have no competing interests.
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International Journal of Bioprinting, Electronic ISSN: 2424-8002 Print ISSN: 2424-7723, Published by AccScience Publishing