Composite 3D printed scaffold with structured electrospun nanofibers promotes chondrocyte adhesion and infiltration

Abstract

Additive manufacturing, also called 3D printing, is an effective method for preparing scaffolds with defined structure and porosity. The disadvantage of the technique is the excessive smoothness of the printed fibers, which does not support cell adhesion. In the present study, a 3D printed scaffold was combined with electrospun classic or structured nanofibers to promote cell adhesion. Structured nanofibers were used to improve the infiltration of cells into the scaffold. Electrospun layers were connected to 3D printed fibers by gluing, thus enabling the fabrication of scaffolds with unlimited thickness. The composite 3D printed/nanofibrous scaffolds were seeded with primary chondrocytes and tested in vitro for cell adhesion, proliferation and differentiation. The experiment showed excellent cell infiltration, viability, and good cell proliferation. On the other hand, partial chondrocyte dedifferentiation was shown. Other materials supporting chondrogenic differentiation will be investigated in future studies.

Strategies to Tune Electrospun Scaffold Porosity for Effective Cell Response in Tissue Engineering

“…Recently, 3D printing technology has taken the center stage of scaffold fabrication field because of the accuracy and the ability to produce personalized scaffolds [96,97]. Lately, both 3D printing and electrospinning technologies concurrently exploited to fabricate composite scaffolds (Figure 16) [98,99]. For instance, Mellor et al fabricated a composite scaffold by printing a 2 mm PCL basal section, then placing a PCL electrospun layer and continued printing another 2 mm section on top of the electrospun layer [100].…”

“…SEM images of 3D printed grid with patterned electrospun mat ( d , e —low magnification, g —high magnification), and classical electrospun mat ( f —low magnification, h —high magnification). Adapted from Rampichova et al 2018 [98].…”

Creating Cartilage in Tissue-Engineered Chamber Using Platelet-Rich Plasma Without Cell Culture

“…20 Furthermore, chondrocytes from microtia cartilage showed inferior capacity to yield healthy ear chondrocytes. 21 Although many attempts have been made to slow dedifferentiation during passaging, including the use of hypoxic conditions, 22 threedimensional (3D) bioscaffolds, 23 high-density culture, 24 growth factors, 25 and varying temperatures, 24 no efficient methods have been developed to overcome these problems. 20 Alternatively, MSCs may represent a promising cell source owing to the chondrogenic differentiation ability of these cells.…”

Recent progress in extrusion 3D bioprinting of hydrogel biomaterials for tissue regeneration: a comprehensive review with focus on advanced fabrication techniques

“…Besides, electrospun fibers typically form 2D membranes with low thicknesses rather than bulk 3D scaffolds, and fibrous scaffolds usually have poor mechanical properties due to the high surface-area-to-volume ratios and porosity [61][62][63]. To overcome these issues, and also to mimic ECM matrix, EBB technique has been consolidated with electrospinning to develop scaffolds possessing advantages of different kinds of materials only in one construction [64][65][66][67]. In other words, joining 3D printing and electrospinning can make their particular advantages complementary and improve the capability of developing functional biomimetic scaffolds [68][69][70].…”