Leong Meng Fatt, Chian Kerm Sin, Mhaisalkar Priyadarshini S, Ong Wey Feng, Ratner Buddy D
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore.
J Biomed Mater Res A. 2009 Jun 15;89(4):1040-8. doi: 10.1002/jbm.a.32061.
Electrospun scaffolds have been increasingly used in tissue engineering applications due to their size-scale similarities with native extracellular matrices. Their inherent fibrous features may be important in promoting cell attachment and proliferation on the scaffolds. In this study, we explore the technique of fabricating electrospun fibers with nano-sized porous surfaces and investigate their effects on the attachment of porcine esophageal epithelial cells (PEECs). Porosity was introduced in electrospun poly(D,L-lactide) fibers by creating vapor-induced phase separation conditions during electrospinning. The nanoporous fiber scaffolds were mechanically weaker than the conventional solid fiber scaffolds and solvent-cast films of the same polymer. However, the nanoporosity of the fibers was found to enhance the levels of adsorbed protein from a dilute solution of fetal bovine serum. The amount of protein adsorbed by nanoporous fiber scaffolds was approximately 80% higher than the solid fiber scaffolds. This corresponds to an estimated 62% increase in surface area of the porous fibers than the solid fibers. By comparison, the solvent-cast films adsorbed low levels of protein from the FBS solution. In addition, the porous fibers were found to be advantageous in enhancing initial cell attachment as compared with the solid fibers and solvent-cast films. It was observed that nanoporous fiber scaffolds seeded with PEECs had significantly greater number of viable cells attached than the solid fiber scaffolds after 10 and 24 h in culture. Hence, our results indicate that nanosized porous surfaces on electrospun fibers enhance both protein adsorption and cell attachment. These findings provide a method to improve cell-matrix interactions of electrospun scaffolds for tissue engineering applications.
由于静电纺丝支架在尺寸规模上与天然细胞外基质相似，它们在组织工程应用中得到了越来越广泛的应用。其固有的纤维特性可能对促进细胞在支架上的附着和增殖很重要。在本研究中，我们探索了制备具有纳米级多孔表面的静电纺丝纤维的技术，并研究了它们对猪食管上皮细胞（PEECs）附着的影响。通过在静电纺丝过程中创造蒸汽诱导相分离条件，在静电纺丝的聚（D，L-丙交酯）纤维中引入孔隙率。纳米多孔纤维支架在机械性能上比相同聚合物的传统实心纤维支架和溶剂浇铸膜更弱。然而，发现纤维的纳米孔隙率可提高从胎牛血清稀溶液中吸附的蛋白质水平。纳米多孔纤维支架吸附的蛋白质量比实心纤维支架高出约80%。这相当于多孔纤维的表面积比实心纤维估计增加了62%。相比之下，溶剂浇铸膜从FBS溶液中吸附的蛋白质水平较低。此外，与实心纤维和溶剂浇铸膜相比，发现多孔纤维在增强初始细胞附着方面具有优势。观察到，接种PEECs的纳米多孔纤维支架在培养10小时和24小时后，附着的活细胞数量明显多于实心纤维支架。因此，我们的结果表明，静电纺丝纤维上的纳米级多孔表面增强了蛋白质吸附和细胞附着。这些发现为改善用于组织工程应用的静电纺丝支架的细胞-基质相互作用提供了一种方法。
