PCL and PCL-Gelatin Nanofibers as Esophageal Tissue Scaffolds: Optimization, Characterization and Cell-Matrix Interactions

Abstract

Nanofiber based scaffolds offer great promise in regeneration of various tissues including esophagus. Diseases of the esophagus such as malignancy and strictures require surgical intervention to repair the affected region using an appropriate substitute. Long gap esophageal atresia poses a clinical challenge to bridge the gap. In this study, nanofibrous scaffolds made of PCL and PCL-gelatin were fabricated through electrospinning. The average diameter of PCL and PCL-gelatin nanofibers were found to be 324 +/- 50 nm and 242 +/- 30 nm respectively. PCL-gelatin nanofibers was characterized using FTIR, DSC, UTM, Goniometer, suture retention strength and in vitro degradation and the results were compared with the PCL nanofibers. PCL nanofiber characterization results showed that it exhibited higher tensile strength, suture retention strength, contact angle and slower degradation when compared with the PCL-gelatin nanofibers. Further, the interaction of human esophageal epithelial cells with PCL and PCL-gelatin nanofibrous scaffold was determined by cell adhesion, proliferation and gene expression studies. Our results demonstrated that the epithelial cells adhered and proliferated well on both PCL and PCL-gelatin nanofibrous scaffolds and also exhibited the characteristic cobblestone morphology. Cell proliferation on PCL-gelatin nanofibrous scaffold was significantly higher than the PCL nanofibrous scaffold (*p <0.05). Therefore, these scaffolds could be explored as potential candidates for regeneration of functional esophagus.

Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate)-based nanofibrous scaffolds to support functional esophageal epithelial cells towards engineering the esophagus

“…[8] Nanofibrous scaffolds have been extensively employed for regeneration of various tissues such as skin, nerve, bone, cardiovascular, esophagus, etc. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] This is due to the fact that nanofibers possess high surface area-to-volume ratio, tunable mechanical properties, tailorable porosity and mimic the native ECM. [19] Electrospinning is a versatile technique that has been frequently employed to produce continuous nanofibers of desired dimensions.…”

“…[20] Similarly, poly(caprolactone) and poly(caprolactone) blended with gelatin nanofibrous scaffolds have been investigated as ECM mimics to support functional esophageal epithelial regeneration. [18] Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) is a biodegradable and biocompatible aliphatic polyester that possesses good oxygen permeability, which could promote better cell proliferation. [8] PHBV nanofibers have been demonstrated to successfully support fibroblasts, keratinocytes and neural cells.…”

“…A PLLC-based nanofibrous scaffold and a PCL-gelatin nanofibrous scaffold have been reported for esophageal epithelial cell proliferation. [18,20] No further work had focused on exploring the potential of nanofibrous scaffolds towards esophageal regeneration. Therefore, the present work aims to fabricate defect-free PHBV and PHBV-gelatin nanofibrous scaffolds and characterize their mechanical properties and the response of the …”

Manufacturing of Biodegradable Scaffolds to Engineer Artificial Blood Vessel

“…One-layered scaffolds were put onto the rod collector. A polymeric solution for electrospinning was prepared as 20% (w/v) PCL using an organic solvent mixture composed of chloroform and N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF, Sigma-Aldrich, USA, anhidrous, 99.8%) (7:3 ratio) (11). For the electrospinning process the polymeric solution was placed in a 10 ml plastic syringe fitted with a metal needle with a tip diameter of 0.8 mm.…”

Physicochemical Characterization and Cell Adhesion Evaluation of Poly-ε-Caprolactone/BNNT Nanofibers Produced through Electrospinning Process

“…The huge abundance of these hybrid structures and the possibility to combine different properties of each one assure the continued progress that will make it possible to overcome economic and technical limitations in current technology [1]. extracellular matrices [7], carriers for topical/transdermal drug delivery [8], electrical and optical applications [9,10], sensors and high performance structures [11,12] .…”