Chemical and Materials Engineering, The University of Auckland, 5 Grafton Road, Auckland 1010, New Zealand.
MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Wellington 6140, New Zealand.
ACS Appl Bio Mater. 2024 Sep 16;7(9):6089-6100. doi: 10.1021/acsabm.4c00713. Epub 2024 Aug 26.
Extracellular matrix (ECM) is essential for tissue development, providing structural support and a microenvironment that is necessary for cells. As tissue engineering advances, there is a growing demand for ECM mimics. Polycaprolactone (PCL) is a commonly used synthetic polymer for ECM mimic materials. However, its biologically inactive surface limits its direct application in tissue engineering. Our study aimed to improve the biocompatibility of PCL by incorporating hemoglobin nanofibrils (HbFs) into PCL using an electrospinning technique. HbFs were formed from bovine hemoglobin (Hb) extracted from industrial byproducts and designed to offer PCL an improved cell adhesion property. The fabricated HbFs@PCL electrospun scaffold exhibits improved fibroblast adherence, proliferation, and deeper fibroblast infiltration into the scaffold compared with the pure PCL scaffold, indicating its potential to be an ECM mimic. This study represents the pioneering utilization of Hb-sourced nanofibrils in the electrospun PCL scaffolds for tissue engineering applications.
细胞外基质（ECM）对于组织发育至关重要，它为细胞提供了结构支撑和必要的微环境。随着组织工程的发展，对 ECM 模拟物的需求日益增长。聚己内酯（PCL）是一种常用于 ECM 模拟材料的合成聚合物。然而，其生物活性表面有限，限制了其在组织工程中的直接应用。我们的研究旨在通过使用静电纺丝技术将血红蛋白纳米纤维（HbFs）掺入 PCL 中来提高 PCL 的生物相容性。HbFs 是由从工业副产品中提取的牛血红蛋白（Hb）形成的，旨在为 PCL 提供改善的细胞附着特性。与纯 PCL 支架相比，制备的 HbFs@PCL 静电纺丝支架显示出改善的成纤维细胞附着、增殖和更深的成纤维细胞渗透到支架中，表明其具有成为 ECM 模拟物的潜力。这项研究代表了在组织工程应用中开创性地利用源自血红蛋白的纳米纤维对静电纺丝 PCL 支架进行修饰。
