Direct E-jet printing of three-dimensional fibrous scaffold for tendon tissue engineering

Abstract

Tissue engineering (TE) offers a promising strategy to restore diseased tendon tissue. However, a suitable scaffold for tendon TE has not been achieved with current fabrication techniques. Herein, we report the development of a novel electrohydrodynamic jet printing (E-jetting) for engineering 3D tendon scaffold with high porosity and orientated micrometer-size fibers. The E-jetted scaffold comprised tubular multilayered micrometer-size fibrous bundles, with interconnected spacing and geometric anisotropy along the longitudinal direction of the scaffold. Fiber diameter, stacking pattern, and interfiber distance have been observed to affect the structural stability of the scaffold, of which the enhanced mechanical strength can be obtained for scaffolds with thick fibers as the supporting layer. Human tenocytes showed a significant increase in cellular metabolism on the E-jetted scaffolds as compared to that on conventional electrospun scaffolds (2.7-, 2.8-, and 3.1-fold increase for 150, 300, and 600 µm interfiber distance, respectively; p < 0.05). Furthermore, the scaffolds provided structural support for human tenocytes to align with controlled orientation along the longitudinal direction of the scaffold, and promoted the expression of collagen type I. For the first time, E-jetting has been explored as a novel scaffolding approach for tendon TE, and offers a 3D fibrous scaffold to promote organized tissue reconstruction for potential tendon healing. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 105B: 616-627, 2017.

Fibre-based scaffolding techniques for tendon tissue engineering

“…For instance, electrospinning serves as an ideal method for nanofibre generation, which replicates the collagen fibrils (Erisken, Zhang, Moffat, Levine, & Lu, ; Yin et al, ). Techniques for microfibre fabrication are usually selected to mimic the collagen fibres with the diameter <100 μm (An, Chua, Leong, Chen, & Chen, ; Kew et al, ; Wu et al, ). Regarding the replication of fibrous structure with higher level, such as fascicles, multiple fibres could be collected next to each other to form bundles during extrusion/printing process (Kew et al, ).…”

“…(a) Schematic of electrospinning process. (c) E‐jetting process in which printed fibres were patterned using a motion stage (Wu, Wang, et al, ). (e) Device of electrochemical alignment technique including power supply for providing voltage for the electrochemical cell, syringe pump, rotating electrodes wheel, and collection spool (Younesi et al, ).…”

“…(m) Fabrication process of composite living fibres, in which a biocompatible thread was passed through the baths and was collected by the motor, leading to the formation of a cell‐laden hydrogel layer on the thread (Akbari et al, ). (b, d, f, h, j, l, n) Images of fibre or fibre bundle manufactured using related techniques (An et al, ; Costa‐Almeida et al, ; Kew et al, ; Tamura et al, ; Wu, Wang, et al, ; Yin et al, ; Younesi et al, ) [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]…”

Three‐dimensional electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds for bone tissue engineering

“…Strategies for preparing 3D electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds and the microscopic morphology: (a) sacrificial components (Wang et al, ); (b) wet‐electrospinning (Chakrapani, Kumar, Raj, & Kumary, ; Taskin et al, ); (c) cryogenic electrospinning (Formica et al, ); (d) electrohydrodynamic printing (Wu et al, ); (e) dispersion‐shaping (Xu, Miszuk, Zhao, Sun, & Fong, ); (f) gas‐foaming (Hwang et al, )…”

Target regulation of both VECs and VSMCs by dual‐loading miRNA‐126 and miRNA‐145 in the bilayered electrospun membrane for small‐diameter vascular regeneration

“…Electrospun fibrous membranes can also efficiently load bioactive agents and drugs for regulation of cellular physiological functions . However, ultrafine fibrous membranes may exhibit limitations by improving cell adhesion rather than cellular infiltration, whereas electrospun fibers in micron‐size can be of great benefit to cell ingrowth . Therefore, double or multiple‐layered electrospun membranes with different fiber diameters can fulfill various functions to facilitate rapid and complex tissue recovery .…”