Controllable Aligned Nanofiber Hybrid Yarns with Enhanced Bioproperties for Tissue Engineering

Abstract

Electrospun nanofibers have large surface area, high porosity, and controllable orientation while conventional microfibers have appropriate mechanical properties such as stiffness, strength, and elasticity. Therefore, the combination of nanofibers and microfibers can provide building elements to engineer biomimetic scaffolds for tissue engineering. In this study, a core–shell structured fibrous structure with controllable surface topography is created by electrospinning polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibers onto polyglycolic acid (PGA) microfibers. The surface morphology, surface wettability, and mechanical properties of the resultant core–shell structure are characterized. FE‐SEM images reveal that the orientation of PCL nanofibers on the yarn surface can be tuned by a fiber collector and rotating disks. Benefiting from the introduction of a shell of aligned PCL nanofibers on the core of PGA yarn, the uniaxially aligned PCL nanofiber–covered yarns (A‐PCLs) exhibit higher hydrophilicity, porosity, and mechanical properties than the core PGA yarns. Moreover, A‐PCLs promote the adhesion and proliferation of BALB/3T3 (mouse embryonic fibroblast cell line), and guide cell growth along the biotopographic cues of the PCL nanofibers with controllable alignment. The developed core–shell yarn having both the desired surface topography of PCL nanofibers and mechanical properties of PGA microfibers demonstrates great potential in constructing various tissue scaffolds.

Fabrication of Multilayered Nanofiber Scaffolds with a Highly Aligned Nanofiber Yarn for Anisotropic Tissue Regeneration

“…More efforts were made to study the potential of NFYs prepared by a dual-nozzle system with anisotropy texture in tissue engineering. The cells’ behavior on highly aligned NFYs is studied using lined up yarns, which could guide the spreading and orientation of cells along the axis of the yarn. , Furthermore, to fabricate 3D scaffolds with electrospun NFYs, methods in conventional textile including weaving, knitting, and braiding were utilized to process the yarns into 3D scaffolds with tunable macroscale structures. ,,− …”

“…The cells' behavior on highly aligned NFYs is studied using lined up yarns, which could guide the spreading and orientation of cells along the axis of the yarn. 31,32 Furthermore, to fabricate 3D scaffolds with electrospun NFYs, methods in conventional textile including weaving, knitting, and braiding were utilized to process the yarns into 3D scaffolds with tunable macroscale structures. 9,10,33−35 Up to now, scaffolds prepared by textile methods with NFYs have been studied for various applications including muscle, 36,37 tendon, 9,31,38 heart valve, 10 nerve, 39−41 cardiac tissue, 33,36,42 vessel, 11,35 and tracheal tissue 43 regeneration.…”

A Review: Textile Technologies for Single and Multi‐Layer Tubular Soft Tissue Engineering

“…The surface morphology and corresponding fiber alignment were controlled by the speed of the rotating disk, which ultimately affects the hydrophilicity, a key characteristic of cell adhesion and proliferation. [109]…”

Regeneration of the peripheral nerve via multifunctional electrospun scaffolds

“…Moreover, the axons spread along the length of the yarn 77 . Adding a void space in yarn and conduit center, inside the pore volumes between nanofibers, offered multi‐scale porosity and permeability for scaffolds 64,70,78‐82 . In the case of conduits with a hollow structure, nanofibers were collected onto a steel mandrel by a rotating speed 82,83 .…”