Department of Orthopaedics, University Medical Center Utrecht, P.O. Box 85500, Utrecht, GA, 3508, The Netherlands.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, P. O. Box 513, Eindhoven, MB, 5600, The Netherlands.
Adv Healthc Mater. 2017 Sep;6(18). doi: 10.1002/adhm.201700311. Epub 2017 Jul 12.
Current limitations in cardiac tissue engineering revolve around the inability to fully recapitulate the structural organization and mechanical environment of native cardiac tissue. This study aims at developing organized ultrafine fiber scaffolds with improved biocompatibility and architecture in comparison to the traditional fiber scaffolds obtained by solution electrospinning. This is achieved by combining the additive manufacturing of a hydroxyl-functionalized polyester, (poly(hydroxymethylglycolide-co-ε-caprolactone) (pHMGCL), with melt electrospinning writing (MEW). The use of pHMGCL with MEW vastly improves the cellular response to the mechanical anisotropy. Cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) are able to align more efficiently along the preferential direction of the melt electrospun pHMGCL fiber scaffolds in comparison to electrospun poly(ε-caprolactone)-based scaffolds. Overall, this study describes for the first time that highly ordered microfiber (4.0-7.0 µm) scaffolds based on pHMGCL can be reproducibly generated with MEW and that these scaffolds can support and guide the growth of CPCs and thereby potentially enhance their therapeutic potential.
目前心脏组织工程的局限性在于无法完全再现天然心脏组织的结构组织和力学环境。本研究旨在开发具有更好生物相容性和结构的有序超细纤维支架，与传统的溶液静电纺丝获得的纤维支架相比。这是通过将羟基功能化聚酯（聚（羟甲基乙二醇-co-ε-己内酯）（pHMGCL）的增材制造与熔融静电纺丝书写（MEW）相结合来实现的。使用 pHMGCL 与 MEW 极大地改善了细胞对机械各向异性的反应。与基于静电纺丝的聚（ε-己内酯）支架相比，心肌祖细胞（CPCs）能够更有效地沿着熔融静电纺丝 pHMGCL 纤维支架的优先方向排列。总的来说，这项研究首次描述了基于 pHMGCL 的高度有序微纤维（4.0-7.0 µm）支架可以通过 MEW 可重复地生成，并且这些支架可以支持和引导 CPC 的生长，从而有可能增强它们的治疗潜力。
