Poly(ε-Caprolactone) Resorbable Auxetic Designed Knitted Scaffolds for Craniofacial Skeletal Muscle Regeneration

Abstract

Craniofacial microsomia is a congenital deformity caused by asymmetric development of the skull (cranium) and face before birth. Current treatments include corrective surgery and replacement of the deformed structure using autograft tissue, which results in donor site morbidity. An alternative therapy can be achieved by developing a resorbable scaffold for skeletal muscle regeneration which will help restore the symmetry and function of the facial muscles and reduce donor site morbidity. Two resorbable weft knitted scaffolds were fabricated using poly(ε-caprolactone) multifilament yarns with unique auxetic design structures possessing negative Poisson’s ratio (NPR). These scaffolds exhibit their NPR elasticity through an increase in total volume as well as no lateral narrowing when stretched longitudinally, which can provide orientated mechanical supports to the cell growth of skeletal muscle regeneration. These scaffolds were evaluated for the required physical properties, mechanical performance and biocompatibility by culturing them with neonatal human dermal fibroblasts so as to determine their cell metabolic activity, cell attachment and proliferation. This study can facilitate the understanding and engineering of textile-based scaffolds for tissues/organs. The work also paves a pathway to emerge the NPR textiles into tissue engineering, which has an extensive potential for biomedical end-uses.

Auxetic mechanical metamaterials: from soft to stiff

“…For example, scaffolds with tunable Poisson's ratio are more suitable for emulating the mechanical behavior of native tissues [249,250]. Tissue engineering scaffolds with NPR properties exhibit higher cell growth efficiency [251], proliferation [250,252], and secreted collagen [253]. Figure 12(e) shows the fabrication of 3D printed auxetic scaffolds using thick and thin electrospun fibers, making use of the melting electro-writing technique [251].…”

Oriented Porous Polymer Scaffolds in Tissue Engineering: A Comprehensive Review of Preparation Strategies and Applications

“…[171] Specifically, scaffolds designed for skeletal muscle repair necessitate enhanced toughness and ductility compared to those employed in bone tissue engineering. To address this challenge, Deshpande et al [172] devised an oriented PCL scaffold with a distinctive negative Poisson ratio structure, employing textile technology. The unique textile architecture and negative Poisson's ratio of this scaffold confer anisotropic mechanical properties.…”

“…To address this challenge, Deshpande et al. [ 172 ] devised an oriented PCL scaffold with a distinctive negative Poisson ratio structure, employing textile technology. The unique textile architecture and negative Poisson's ratio of this scaffold confer anisotropic mechanical properties.…”

Auxetic Structures for Tissue Engineering Scaffolds and Biomedical Devices

“…Because of the variability of the knitted structure, knitting has been achieved using a superior fabrication method for NPR textiles [62]. Deshpande et al [75] fabricated resorbable weft-knitted auxetic scaffolds with a high porosity (up to 90%) using PCL yarns. The ultimate strength of the auxetic textile scaffolds was higher than that of the native skeletal muscle tissue.…”