Tissue regeneration is a complex process in which numerous chemical and physical signals are coordinated in a specific spatiotemporal pattern. In this study, we tested our hypothesis that cell migration and bone tissue formation can be guided and facilitated by microscale morphological cues presented from a scaffold. We prepared poly(l-lactic acid) (PLLA) electrospun fibers with random and aligned structures and investigated their effect on in vitro migration of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) and in vivo bone growth using a critical-sized defect model. Using a polydopamine coating on the fibers, we compared the synergistic effects of chemical signals. The adhesion morphology of hMSCs was consistent with the direction of fiber alignment, whereas the proliferation of hMSCs was not affected. The orientation of fibers profoundly affected cell migration, in which hMSCs cultured on aligned fibers migrated 10.46-fold faster along the parallel direction than along the perpendicular direction on polydopamine-coated PLLA nanofibers. We implanted each fiber type into a mouse calvarial defect model for 2 months. The micro-computed tomography (CT) imaging demonstrated that regenerated bone area was the highest when mice were implanted with aligned fibers with polydopamine coating, indicating a positive synergistic effect on bone regeneration. More importantly, scanning electron microscopy microphotographs revealed that the direction of regenerated bone tissue appeared to be consistent with the direction of the implanted fibers, and transmission electron microscopy images showed that the orientation of collagen fibrils appeared to be overlapped along the direction of nanofibers. Taken together, our results demonstrate that the aligned nanofibers can provide spatial guidance for in vitro cell migration as well as in vivo bone regeneration, which may be incorporated as major instructive cues for the stimulation of tissue regeneration.
The concept of guided bone regeneration facilitated by barrier membranes has been widely considered to achieve enhanced bone healing in maxillofacial surgery. However, the currently available membranes are limited in their active regulation of cellular activities. In this study, we fabricated polycaprolactone/gelatin composite electrospun nanofibers incorporated with basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) to direct bone regeneration. The fibrous morphology was maintained after the crosslinking and subsequent conjugation of heparin. Release of bFGF from electrospun nanofibers without heparin resulted in a spontaneous burst, while the heparin-mediated release of bFGF decreased the burst release in 24 h. The bFGF released from the nanofibers enhanced the proliferation and migration of human mesenchymal stem cells as well as the tubule formation of human umbilical cord blood cells. The subcutaneous implantation of fibers incorporated with bFGF mobilized a large number of cells positive for CD31 and smooth muscle alpha actin within 2 weeks. The effect of the nanofibers incorporated with bFGF on bone regeneration was evaluated on a calvarial critical size defect model. As compared to the mice that received fibers without bFGF, which presented minimal new bone formation (5.36 ± 3.4 % of the defect), those that received implants of heparinized nanofibers incorporated with 50 or 100 ng/mL bFGF significantly enhanced new bone formation (10.82 ± 2.2 and 17.55 ± 6.08 %). Taken together, our results suggest that the electrospun nanofibers incorporating bFGF have the potential to be used as an advanced membrane that actively enhances bone regeneration.
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