Biofabrication of Electrospun Scaffolds for the Regeneration of Tendons and Ligaments

Abstract

Tendon and ligament tissue regeneration and replacement are complex since scaffolds need to guarantee an adequate hierarchical structured morphology, and non-linear mechanical properties. Moreover, to guide the cells’ proliferation and tissue re-growth, scaffolds must provide a fibrous texture mimicking the typical of the arrangement of the collagen in the extracellular matrix of these tissues. Among the different techniques to produce scaffolds, electrospinning is one of the most promising, thanks to its ability to produce fibers of nanometric size. This manuscript aims to provide an overview to researchers approaching the field of repair and regeneration of tendons and ligaments. To clarify the general requirements of electrospun scaffolds, the first part of this manuscript presents a general overview concerning tendons’ and ligaments’ structure and mechanical properties. The different types of polymers, blends and particles most frequently used for tendon and ligament tissue engineering are summarized. Furthermore, the focus of the review is on describing the different possible electrospinning setups and processes to obtain different nanofibrous structures, such as mats, bundles, yarns and more complex hierarchical assemblies. Finally, an overview concerning how these technologies are exploited to produce electrospun scaffolds for tendon and ligament tissue applications is reported together with the main findings and outcomes.

Hierarchical electrospun tendon‐ligament bioinspired scaffolds induce changes in fibroblasts morphology under static and dynamic conditions

“…, and ). These results were in accordance with the previous studies on cell cultures carried out on PLLA/Coll electrospun bundles of aligned nanofibres (Sensini & Cristofolini, ; Sensini et al ., ).…”

“…However, considering the different imaging investigations, the fibroblasts grown on the sheath of the hierarchical scaffolds showed an unprecedented phenomenon compared to previous cell studies (Hampson et al ., ; Alshomer et al ., ; Sensini & Cristofolini, ). In fact, the circumferential alignment and elongation of cells grown in the static condition was unexpected, even considering the slightly circumferential alignment of the sheath nanofibres (Fig.…”

“…It has been shown that fibroblasts and tenocytes shape is strictly dependent on the specific site of growth in vivo : cells that colonise tendon and ligament membranes (made of randomly arranged collagen fibrils), tend to spread their bodies; conversely, cells in the internal volume of these tissues appear elongated in the direction of the axially oriented fibrils (Kastelic et al ., ; Kannus, ; Murphy et al ., ). Several manufacturing approaches to produce fibrous scaffolds inspired to tendons or ligaments have been investigated in literature, among these electrospinning technology is the most promising (Sensini & Cristofolini, ). Thanks to the possibility to obtain nanoscale fibres with different spatial arrangements, electrospun scaffolds have demonstrated enhancement of cellular orientation in the fibres direction (Bosworth & Downes, ; Denchai et al ., ).…”

Micropatterning MoS2/Polyamide Electrospun Nanofibrous Membranes Using Femtosecond Laser Pulses

“…For example, a very recent study demonstrated that incorporating TMDs into electrospun nanofibers was a suitable approach for building biomimetic cellular scaffolds [10]. The final composite nanofibers showed some key characteristics of TMDs, such as a large surface area and good mechanical strength [8,11], while the fibrous features of the electrospun scaffold-which mimic the extracellular matrix-improved cellular adhesion and proliferation [12][13][14][15].…”

Advanced Functional Biomaterials for Stem Cell Delivery in Regenerative Engineering and Medicine

“…Among the most common synthetic biomaterials for tendon repair are electrospun PCL (poly‐ε‐caprolactone) and PLLA (poly‐ l ‐lactic acid) . Electrospinning can produce aligned fibrous scaffolds that promote cell alignment and their tensile moduli is higher than the natural biomaterials such as collagen and closer to that of a human tendon (around 1 GPa).…”