Melt Electrowriting of Amphiphilic Physically Crosslinked Segmented Copolymers

Bakırcı, Ezgi; Frank, Andreas; Gumbel, Simon; Otto, Paul F.; Fürsattel, Eva; Teßmer, Ingrid; Schmidt, Hans‐Werner; Dalton, Paul D.

doi:10.1002/macp.202100259

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…In the case of fiber diameters, PCL fibers are mostly narrower (with diameters in the range of 5 µm to 15 µm) than PLA fibers (with diameters between 15 and 25 µm). Bakirci et al 54 stated that the viscosity of a polymer melt is the parameter affecting the polymer fiber diameter in MEW process. Therefore, it can be concluded that the larger diameter of PLA fibers may be the result of higher viscosity of PLA melt compared to that of PCL melt.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Melt electrowriting of PLA, PCL, and composite PLA/PCL scaffolds for tissue engineering application

Shahverdi

Seifi

Akbari

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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Fabrication of well-ordered and bio-mimetic scaffolds is one of the most important research lines in tissue engineering. Different techniques have been utilized to achieve this goal, however, each method has its own disadvantages. Recently, melt electrowriting (MEW) as a technique for fabrication of well-organized scaffolds has attracted the researchers’ attention due to simultaneous use of principles of additive manufacturing and electrohydrodynamic phenomena. In previous research studies, polycaprolactone (PCL) has been mostly used in MEW process. PCL is a biocompatible polymer with characteristics that make it easy to fabricate well-arranged structures using MEW device. However, the mechanical properties of PCL are not favorable for applications like bone tissue engineering. Furthermore, it is of vital importance to demonstrate the capability of MEW technique for processing a broad range of polymers. To address aforementioned problems, in this study, three ten-layered box-structured well-ordered scaffolds, including neat PLA, neat PCL, and PLA/PCL composite are fabricated using an MEW device. Printing of the composite PLA/PCL scaffold using the MEW device is conducted in this study for the first time. The MEW device used in this study is a commercial fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printer which with some changes in its setup and configuration becomes prepared for being used as an MEW device. Since in most of previous studies, a setup has been designed and built for MEW process, the use of the FDM device can be considered as one of the novelties of this research. The printing parameters are adjusted in a way that scaffolds with nearly equal pore sizes in the range of 140 µm to 150 µm are fabricated. However, PCL fibers are mostly narrower (diameters in the range of 5 µm to 15 µm) than PLA fibers with diameters between 15 and 25 µm. Unlike the MEW process of PCL, accurate positioning of PLA fibers is difficult which can be due to higher viscosity of PLA melt compared to PCL melt. The printed composite PLA/PCL scaffold possesses a well-ordered box structure with improved mechanical properties and cell-scaffold interactions compared to both neat PLA and PCL scaffolds. Besides, the composite scaffold exhibits a higher swelling ratio than the neat PCL scaffold which can be related to the presence of less hydrophobic PLA fibers. This scaffold demonstrates an anisotropic behavior during uniaxial tensile test in which its Young’s modulus, ultimate tensile stress, and strain to failure all depend on the direction of the applied tensile force. This anisotropy makes the composite PLA/PCL scaffold an exciting candidate for applications in heart tissue engineering. The results of in-vitro cell viability test using L929 mouse murine fibroblast and human umbilical vein endothelial (HUVEC) cells demonstrate that all of the printed scaffolds are biocompatible. In particular, the composite scaffold presents the highest cell viability value among the fabricated scaffolds. All in all, the composite PLA/PCL scaffold shows that it can be a promising substitution for neat PCL scaffold used in previous MEW studies.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The dimension of these defects is negligible compared to that of the fibers but their number is relatively significant. These imperfections can be due to detachment of microphase or crystallization induced by the flow 54 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Melt electrowriting of PLA, PCL, and composite PLA/PCL scaffolds for tissue engineering application

Shahverdi

Seifi

Akbari

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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“…MEW Scaffolds Printing: A custom-built MEW printer was used to fabricate scaffolds as previously described. [37] MEW was performed using medical-grade PCL (PURASORB PC 12, Lot#1 712 002 224, 05/2018 Corbion Inc, Amsterdam, Netherlands) at 21 ± 3 °C and humidity of 35 ± 12%. The following parameters were used: 77 °C; 2 bar of air pressure; 30 gauge nozzle; 4 kV voltage applied across a 1.4 mm collector distance for the triangular scaffolds.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Parameters for 200 μm box scaffolds were: 80 °C; 3 bar of air pressure; 25G nozzle; 6 kV voltage applied across a 4 mm collector distance. [37] Synthesis of Thiolated Hyaluronic Acid (HA-SH) and Polyethylene Glycol-Diacrylate (PEGDA): The synthesis of HA-SH was performed with a number of modifications from Stichler et al and has been previously described. [29] PEGDA was synthesized according to Cruise et al [30,38] HA-SH was obtained as white foam after freeze drying.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Primary Glial Cell and Glioblastoma Morphology in Cocultures Depends on Scaffold Design and Hydrogel Composition

et al. 2023

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Abstract3D cell cultures better replicate the in vivo environment compared to 2D models. Glioblastoma multiforme, a malignant brain tumor, highly profits from its cellular environment. Here, the U87 glioblastoma cell line in the presence/absence of primary astrocytes is studied. Thiolated hyaluronic acid (HA‐SH) hydrogel reinforced with microfiber scaffolds is compared to Matrigel. Hyaluronic acid is a major extracellular matrix (ECM) component in the brain. Poly(ɛ‐caprolactone) (PCL) scaffolds are written by meltelectrowriting in a box and triangular shaped design with pore sizes of 200 µm. Scaffolds are composed of 10‐layers of PCL microfibers. It is found that scaffold design has an impact on cellular morphology in the absence of hydrogel. Moreover, the used hydrogels have profound influences on cellular morphology resulting in spheroid formation in HA‐SH for both the tumor‐derived cell line and astrocytes, while cell viability is high. Although cocultures of U87 and astrocytes exhibit cell–cell interactions, polynucleated spheroid formation is still present for U87 cells in HA‐SH. Locally restricted ECM production or inability to secrete ECM proteins may underlie the observed cell morphologies. Thus, the 3D reinforced PCL‐HA‐SH composite with glioma‐like cells and astrocytes constitutes a reproducible system to further investigate the impact of hydrogel modifications on cellular behavior and development.

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Introducing Metal–Organic Frameworks to Melt Electrowriting: Multifunctional Scaffolds with Controlled Microarchitecture for Tissue Engineering Applications

Mansi,

Dummert,

Topping

et al. 2023

Adv Funct Materials

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Scaffolds with multiple advantageous biological and structural properties are still a challenge in the field of tissue engineering. The convergence of advanced fabrication techniques and functional materials is key to fulfill this need. Melt electrowriting (MEW) is an additive manufacturing technique that enables the fabrication of microfibrous scaffolds with precisely defined microarchitectures. Here, it is proposed to exploit metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) to efficiently introduce multifunctionalities by combining polycaprolactone (PCL), the gold standard material in MEW, with a silver‐/silver‐chloride‐decorated iron‐based MOF (NH2‐MIL‐88B(Fe)). This results in highly ordered constructs with antibacterial properties and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) visibility. Scaffolds with up to 20 wt% MOF are successfully melt‐electrowritten with a fiber diameter of 50 µm. Among these, 5 wt% MOF proves to be the optimal concentration as it exhibits silver‐induced sustained antibacterial efficacy while maintaining PCL cytocompatibility and in vitro immune response. The iron component of the MOF (Fe(III) nodes) renders the composite visible with MRI, thereby enabling scaffold monitoring upon implantation with a clinically accepted method. The combination of MEW and MOFs as tunable additives and cargo carriers opens the way for designing advanced multifunctional scaffolds with a wide range of applications in, e.g., tissue engineering, biosensing and drug delivery.

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Melt Electrowriting of Amphiphilic Physically Crosslinked Segmented Copolymers

Cited by 6 publications

References 44 publications

Melt electrowriting of PLA, PCL, and composite PLA/PCL scaffolds for tissue engineering application

Melt electrowriting of PLA, PCL, and composite PLA/PCL scaffolds for tissue engineering application

Primary Glial Cell and Glioblastoma Morphology in Cocultures Depends on Scaffold Design and Hydrogel Composition

Introducing Metal–Organic Frameworks to Melt Electrowriting: Multifunctional Scaffolds with Controlled Microarchitecture for Tissue Engineering Applications

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