Department of Electrical and Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering and Computing, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Rd, Fairfield, CT, 06824, USA.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering and Computing, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Rd, Fairfield, CT, 06824, USA.
Sci Rep. 2024 Sep 30;14(1):22722. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-72711-6.
Replicating the architecture of extracellular matrices (ECM) is crucial in tissue engineering to support tissues' natural structure and functionality. The ECM's structure plays a significant role in directing cell alignment. Electrospinning is an effective technique for fabricating nanofibrous substrates that mimic the architecture of extracellular matrices (ECM). This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of resin 3D-printed scaffolds made from a low-conductivity material (i.e., a resin composed of methacrylated oligomers, monomers, and photoinitiators) in directing the alignment of electrospun polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibers. Six 3D-printed scaffolds were fabricated using stereolithography (SLA) technology and strategically positioned on an aluminum foil collector plate during electrospinning. The structured geometry of the scaffolds, rather than the local electric field distribution, is hypothesized to guide nanofiber alignment. Images acquired through the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to analyze and statistically quantify the nanofibrous scaffolds to evaluate the alignment of nanofibers over the scaffolds compared to a set of randomly deposited control nanofiber samples in the absence of the 3D printed scaffolds. SEM images also showed significant alignment of nanofibers within the pores of scaffolds, using histograms as a means for indicating the distribution of orientation angles. Statistical analysis revealed that this distribution deviates from normality due to the deviations in the tails and the existence of relatively smaller peaks at angles relative to 0°, particularly within a range of ± 50° and ± 40°. It is further found that the average peak orientation angle relative to 0° had a maximum probability of 0.014. Furthermore, the statistical analysis confirmed the distribution and significant differences in orientation between test samples with 3D-printed scaffolds and control samples. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of resin 3D-printed scaffolds, particularly their geometric filtering effect, leading to controlled nanofiber alignment, which is proposed to be beneficial for enhancing cell adhesion, proliferation, and cell migration in tissue engineering applications.
复制细胞外基质 (ECM) 的结构对于组织工程至关重要，因为它可以支持组织的自然结构和功能。ECM 的结构在指导细胞对齐方面起着重要作用。静电纺丝是一种制造模仿细胞外基质 (ECM) 结构的纳米纤维基底的有效技术。本研究旨在评估由低导电性材料（即由甲基丙烯酰化低聚物、单体和光引发剂组成的树脂）制成的树脂 3D 打印支架在引导静电纺丝聚己内酯 (PCL) 纳米纤维对齐方面的功效。使用立体光刻 (SLA) 技术制造了六个 3D 打印支架，并在静电纺丝过程中战略性地放置在铝箔收集板上。假设支架的结构化几何形状而不是局部电场分布来引导纳米纤维对齐。通过扫描电子显微镜 (SEM) 获取的图像用于分析和统计量化纳米纤维支架，以评估与一组没有 3D 打印支架的随机沉积对照纳米纤维样品相比，纳米纤维在支架上的对齐情况。SEM 图像还显示了纳米纤维在支架孔内的显著对齐，直方图用于指示取向角度的分布。统计分析表明，由于尾部的偏差和相对于 0°的角度存在相对较小的峰，这种分布偏离正态分布，特别是在±50°和±40°的范围内。进一步发现，相对于 0°的平均峰值取向角度的最大概率为 0.014。此外，统计分析证实了具有 3D 打印支架的测试样品和对照样品之间的分布和取向的显著差异。这些发现表明了树脂 3D 打印支架的有效性，特别是其几何过滤效应，导致可控的纳米纤维对齐，这被认为有益于增强组织工程应用中的细胞粘附、增殖和细胞迁移。
