The effect of melt electrospun writing fiber orientation onto cellular organization and mechanical properties for application in Anterior Cruciate Ligament tissue engineering

Polymers for Melt Electrowriting

“…As PCL is highlighted in several reviews on clinical translation of tissue engineering products, the transition from university-led research to application in the clinic is often negatively impacted by the need to repeat experiments with medical-grade polymers. In this instance, our understand- Measured as M w = 80 kDa [31] [ 11,16,12,20,[22][23][24]26, Sigma Aldrich Product number 440744 [46] M n = 80 × 10 3 [ 5,21,56,57] M n = 35 × 10 3 M w = 83 × 10 3 [ 13] M w = 45 kDa [58][59][60] M n = 45 × 10 3 [ 61] [ 5,13,21,[56][57][58][59][60][61] Capa 6400 M w ≈ 37 × 10 3 a) MFI = 40 b) [ 62,63] Capa 6430…”

“…There are many studies investigating the printing parameters or phenomena using PCL [13,11,16,67] so as to make different scaffold designs for biomedical applications. [3] This includes the standard box pore morphology scaffolds ( Figure 1C,D) or triangular pore scaffolds ( Figure 1E) that are followed by understanding how this influences cell morphology and cell adhesion, [20][21][22]31,46] including mathematical modeling of pore bridging dynamics. [66] However, more recently, complex designs or further improvements for specific applications are gaining more and more interest.…”

Topographical and Biomechanical Guidance of Electrospun Fibers for Biomedical Applications

“…The use of electrospun fibers has been proposed for regeneration of several tissues, among which the most investigated ones are neural, bone, cardiovascular and soft tissues (ligament, muscle). Fiber alignment is crucial for the tissues in which cells are physiologically aligned as neural tissues [174][175][176][177][178][179][180][181][182], blood vessels [183,184], and certain soft tissues, such as ligament, gum, and muscle [41,[185][186][187][188][189][190]. In these cases, fibers can guide cells through physiological alignment and growth by means of a contact guidance phenomenon.…”

“…Most of the works (Table 2) describe fiber mats or scaffolds designed to study the effect of fibers orientation, size, chemical composition, stiffness, and functionalization on stimulation of a specific cell line or tissue. Moreover, some works simulate situations closest to the final clinical application; examples are Poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) fibers in conduits for nerve regeneration [176], Poly(lactide-co-glycolic acid) PLGA porous membranes for Guided Bone Regeneration, polycaprolactone complex constructs with bone/ligament compartments with different fiber alignment [187], Poly(L-lactide-co-caprolactone) nanofibers coating on metallic stent for aneurysm treatment, and keratin submicrometric fibers random/aligned on grooved titanium substrates to simulate transmucosal dental implant collars [37,41,97].…”

A Charge-Based Mechanistic Study into the Effects of Process Parameters on Fiber Accumulating Geometry for a Melt Electrohydrodynamic Process

“…Melt electrowriting processes, as an emergent technology utilizing the principle of electro-hydrodynamics and additive manufacturing [1,2], have aroused wide interest due to its ability to produce polymeric scaffold with tunable microarchitecture [3][4][5][6] and morphology [7][8][9][10][11]. Moreover, the solvent-free characteristic of the process makes it amenable for a broad application scope for engineered tissues [12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. However, the printing fidelity of the engineered scaffold notably deteriorates when the printing toolpath is designed for larger layering dimensions [19] or smaller feature pore sizes [20].…”