| Abstract Scope |
Bone defect healing is often limited by bacterial infection, inflammation, and insufficient osteogenic activity, motivating multifunctional scaffolds that provide structural support while locally delivering therapeutics. Tricalcium phosphate (TCP) is widely used for bone tissue engineering due to its osteoconductivity and similarity to bone mineral, while digital light processing (DLP) enables porous ceramic scaffolds with controlled architecture. In this study, porous TCP scaffolds were fabricated by DLP printing and loaded with doxycycline and quercetin to combine antibacterial and pro-regenerative functionality. Doxycycline was selected for broad-spectrum antibacterial activity, while quercetin was incorporated for its reported antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and osteogenic potential. Preliminary osteoblast studies showed a 48% increase in cell viability on drug-loaded scaffolds compared with unloaded TCP controls. Ongoing work is evaluating antibacterial activity, release kinetics, gene expression, and in vivo bone repair. This work investigates DLP-printed TCP scaffolds for infection-resistant bone regeneration. |