The effect of collector type on the physical, chemical, and biological properties of polycaprolactone/gelatin/nano-hydroxyapatite electrospun scaffold.

Electrospinning is considered a powerful method for the production of fibers in the nanoscale size. Small pore size results in poor cell infiltration, cell migration inhibition into scaffold pores and low oxygen diffusion. Electrospun polycaprolactone/gelatin/nano-hydroxyapatite (PCL/Gel/nHA) scaffolds were deposited into two types of fiber collectors (novel rotating disc and plate) to study fiber morphology, chemical, mechanical, hydrophilic, and biodegradation properties between each other. The proliferation and differentiation of MG-63 cells into the bone phenotype were determined using MTT method, alizarin red staining and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity. The rates for disc rotation were 50 and 100 rpm. The pore size measurement results indicated that the fibers produced by the disc rotation collector with speed rate 50 rpm have larger pores as compared to fibers produced by disc rotation at 100 rpm and flat plate collectors. A randomly structure with controlled pore size (38.65 ±0.33 μm) and lower fiber density, as compared to fibers collected by disc rotation with speed rate 100 rpm and flat plate collectors, was obtained. Fibers collected on the rotating disc with speed rate 50 rpm, were more hydrophilic due to larger pore size and therefore, faster infiltration of water into the scaffold and the rate of degradation was higher. These results demonstrate that PCL/Gel/nHA scaffolds made through a rotating disc collector at 50 rpm are more feasible to be used in bone tissue engineering applications due to appropriate pore size and increased adhesion and proliferation of cells, ALP activity and mineral deposits. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater 107B: 933-950, 2019.