Anisotropic poly (glycerol sebacate)-poly (ϵ-caprolactone) electrospun fibers promote endothelial cell guidance

Abstract

Topographical cell guidance is utilized to engineer highly organized and aligned cellular constructs for numerous tissue engineering applications. Recently, electrospun scaffolds fabricated using poly(glycerol sebacate) (PGS) and poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) have shown a great promise to support valvular interstitial cell functions for the development of tissue engineered heart valves. However, one of the major drawbacks of PGS-PCL scaffolds is the lack of control over cellular alignment. In this work we investigate the role of scaffold architecture on the endothelial cell alignment, proliferation and formation of organized cellular structures. In particular, PGS-PCL scaffolds with randomly oriented and highly aligned fibers with tunable mechanical properties were fabricated using electrospinning technique. After one week of culture, endothelial cells on the aligned scaffolds exhibit higher proliferation compared to those cultures on randomly oriented fibrous scaffolds. Furthermore, the endothelial cells reorganize in response to the topographical features of anisotropic scaffolds forming highly organize cellular constructs. Thus, the topographical contact guidance, provided by aligned PGS-PCL scaffolds, is envisioned to be useful in developing aligned cellular structures for vascular tissue engineering.

Nanofibrous composite scaffolds of poly(ester amides) with tunable physicochemical and degradation properties

“…To date, biodegradable synthetic thermoset elastomer PGS has been widely explored for various tissue engineering applications [6,8,[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. PGS exhibits faster degradation rate of 17% in 9 weeks in PBS, elastic modulus of around 0.282 MPa, and it's tensile strength is above 0.5…”

Elastomeric and mechanically stiff nanocomposites from poly(glycerol sebacate) and bioactive nanosilicates

“…[35,37,38] Comparing to other widely used synthetic polymers such as poly(lactic acid)(PLA) and poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)(PLGA)-based materials, PGS triggered lower inflammatory responses and minimal fibrous encapsulation. [35][36][37] As a consequence, PGS-based scaffolds are explored for various soft tissue engineering applications, including vascular graft [39][40][41], nerve guide [42], cardiac patch [43], cartilage tissue [44], and retinal transplantation [45]. In addition, it has been reported that PGS supported phenotypes of osteoblasts in vitro and was a promising osteoconductive substrate for bone tissue engineering application.…”

Vision for Functionally Decorated and Molecularly Imprinted Polymers in Regenerative Engineering

“…Endothelial cells cultured on the aligned PGS-PCL fibers exhibited greater proliferation and alignment compared to those cultured on the randomly oriented materials. In addition, alignment of the fibers enabled the endothelial cells to form organized constructs, an important aspect for vascularized tissue structures [12]. …”