Mellor Liliana F, Huebner Pedro, Cai Shaobo, Mohiti-Asli Mahsa, Taylor Michael A, Spang Jeffrey, Shirwaiker Rohan A, Loboa Elizabeth G
Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.
Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.
Biomed Res Int. 2017;2017:6956794. doi: 10.1155/2017/6956794. Epub 2017 Apr 27.
Electrospun scaffolds provide a dense framework of nanofibers with pore sizes and fiber diameters that closely resemble the architecture of native extracellular matrix. However, it generates limited three-dimensional structures of relevant physiological thicknesses. 3D printing allows digitally controlled fabrication of three-dimensional single/multimaterial constructs with precisely ordered fiber and pore architecture in a single build. However, this approach generally lacks the ability to achieve submicron resolution features to mimic native tissue. The goal of this study was to fabricate and evaluate 3D printed, electrospun, and combination of 3D printed/electrospun scaffolds to mimic the native architecture of heterogeneous tissue. We assessed their ability to support viability and proliferation of human adipose derived stem cells (hASC). Cells had increased proliferation and high viability over 21 days on all scaffolds. We further tested implantation of stacked-electrospun scaffold versus combined electrospun/3D scaffold on a cadaveric pig knee model and found that stacked-electrospun scaffold easily delaminated during implantation while the combined scaffold was easier to implant. Our approach combining these two commonly used scaffold fabrication technologies allows for the creation of a scaffold with more close resemblance to heterogeneous tissue architecture, holding great potential for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications of osteochondral tissue and other heterogeneous tissues.
电纺支架提供了一个由纳米纤维组成的致密框架，其孔径和纤维直径与天然细胞外基质的结构非常相似。然而，它产生的具有相关生理厚度的三维结构有限。3D打印允许在一次构建中以数字方式控制制造具有精确有序的纤维和孔隙结构的三维单材料/多材料构建体。然而，这种方法通常缺乏实现亚微米分辨率特征以模拟天然组织的能力。本研究的目的是制造和评估3D打印、电纺以及3D打印/电纺组合支架，以模拟异质组织的天然结构。我们评估了它们支持人脂肪来源干细胞（hASC）存活和增殖的能力。在所有支架上，细胞在21天内增殖增加且存活率高。我们进一步在尸体猪膝关节模型上测试了堆叠电纺支架与电纺/3D组合支架的植入情况，发现堆叠电纺支架在植入过程中容易分层，而组合支架更容易植入。我们将这两种常用的支架制造技术相结合的方法，能够创建一个与异质组织结构更相似的支架，在骨软骨组织和其他异质组织的组织工程和再生医学应用中具有巨大潜力。
