The application of electrospinning used in meniscus tissue engineering

Abstract

Meniscus is a fibrocartilaginous organ to redistribute stress and enhance the stability of knee joint. Meniscus injury is common and still a formidable challenge to orthopedic surgeons. Surgical techniques and allograft transplantation were primary approaches to meniscus repair, but with intrinsic limitations in clinical practice. Tissue engineering is the most promising method to repair meniscus at present. Electrospinning is a method to fabricate fibers in small scale. With different materials and parameters, electrospinning materials could have different mechanical properties, porosity, and orientation, which could mimic architectural features and mechanical properties of native meniscus. Therefore, electrospinning materials could be used in meniscus regeneration and curing. This review gave a brief introduction of meniscus structure, injury, treatment and the application of electrospinning fibers in meniscus tissue engineering and curing. Besides that, we summarized materials commonly used in electrospinning to fabricate meniscus scaffolds, and discussed the form of electrospinning fibers used such as scaffold, substitute and patch. Finally, the function of electrospinning fibers, for example, carrying drugs, providing mechanical properties were described. The potential applications of electrospinning fibers in meniscus therapy were proposed.

Modifications in Gene Expression in the Process of Osteoblastic Differentiation of Multipotent Bone Marrow-Derived Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells Induced by a Novel Osteoinductive Porous Medical-Grade 3D-Printed Poly(ε-caprolactone)/β-tricalcium Phosphate Composite

“…Three-dimensional (3D) printing has emerged as a powerful tool for tissue engineering by enabling 3D cell cultures within complex 3D biomimetic architectures [44]. In contrast to the conventional techniques such as electrospinning [45], freeze-drying [46], gas foaming [47], or fiber deposition [48], 3D printing brings more control to both internal and external scaffold geometry. Parameters such as pore size, total porosity, and pore connectivity play an important role in the mass transport of biological fluids, oxygen, nutrients, and cells from the external environment to the inner parts of the scaffold promoting tissue ingrowth [49].…”

Engenharia no Século XXI - Volume 4

“…Um dos métodos de fabricação empregado é o do electrospinning (10)(11)(12)(13)30,51,52,55,56,58), o qual reproduz uma estrutura similar das orientações da fibra de colágeno(31) e possibilita a fabricação de scaffold celularizados (11,12,51,52,56). No entanto, é considerado lento, apresenta propriedades mecânicas limitadas e emaranhados densos (31,54). Estudos demonstram que aplicação de fibras secundárias de sacrifício (como de poli(óxido de etileno)-PEO) são promissoras para aumentar a porosidade do scaffold (13,51,52).…”

“…Entretanto a diminuição do tecido conduz à perda das funções meniscais e consequentemente ao desenvolvimento da degeneração da cartilagem, perturbando a qualidade de vida dos pacientes (14,21,30). Assim, métodos para substituição meniscal estão sendo desenvolvidos e empregados, como é o caso dos aloenxertos e dos scaffolds (6,15,24,31,32).…”

“…Procedimentos de transplante meniscais reduzem as dores e restauram a função meniscal. Porém, possuem disponibilidade limitada e podem gerar problemas potenciais de transmissão de doenças (1,5,8,24,31,33,34). Já, os scaffolds possuem como intuito restaurar as funções do menisco pelo crescimento tissular no interior de sua estrutura (21).…”

Engineering Anisotropic Meniscus: Zonal Functionality and Spatiotemporal Drug Delivery

“…One of the main limitations of traditional 3D printing is that it does not allow the manufacturing of nano-scale fibers, like the ones present in tissue ECM 104 (Figure 3). As an alternative, the fabrication of nanofibers via electrospinning has attracted much interest 105,106 . For example,…”