Biocompatibility of electrospun cell culture scaffolds made from balangu seed mucilage/PVA composites

Electrohydrodynamic printing of submicron-microscale hybrid scaffolds with improved cellular adhesion and proliferation behaviors

Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) printing has been considered as a mature strategy to mimic the hierarchical microarchitectures in native extracellular matrix (ECM). Most of the EHD-printed scaffolds possess single-dimensional fibrous structures, which cannot mimic the multi-dimensional architectures for enhanced cellular behaviors. Here we developed a two-nozzle EHD printing system to fabricate hybrid scaffolds involving submicron and microscale features. The polyethylene oxide- polycaprolactone (PEO-PCL) submicron fibers were fabricated via solution-based EHD printing with a width of 527 ± 56 nm. The PCL microscale fibers were fabricated via melt-based EHD printing with a width of 11.2 ± 2.3μm. The hybrid scaffolds were fabricated by printing the submicron and microscale fibers in a layer-by-layer manner. The microscale scaffolds were utilized as a control group. Rat myocardial cells (H9C2 cells) were cultured on the two kinds of scaffolds for the culturing period of 1, 3 and 5 d. Biological results indicated that H9C2 cells showed enhanced adhesion and proliferation behaviors on the hybrid scaffold than those on the pure microscale scaffold. This work offers a facile and scalable strategy to fabricate multiscale synthetic scaffolds, which might be further explored to regulate cellular behaviors in the fields of tissue regeneration and biomedical engineering.

Bubble-Patterned Films by Inkjet Printing and Gas Foaming

The micropatterning of thin films represents a challenging task, even for additive manufacturing techniques. In this work, we introduce the use of inkjet-printing technology coupled with a gas-foaming process, to produce patterned porosities on polymeric thin films, to develop a bubble-writing method. Inkjet printing of an aqueous solution of poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA), a well-known gas-barrier polymer, allows the selective coating of a thin poly (lactic acid) (PLA) film, which is, successively, exposed to a gas-foaming process. The foaming of the thin PLA film is effective, only when PVA is printed on top, since the PVA barrier hinders the premature loss of the gas, thus allowing the formation of cavities (bubbles) in the covered areas; then, removing the PVA coating by water washing forms a bubble pattern. As a proof of concept, the surface-morphology features of the patterned porous PLA films have been proven effective at driving endothelial cell growth. A new technological platform is, hence, introduced in the field of tissue engineering and, in general, in fields involving thin films, where a patterned porous structure may add value.

Design of polysaccharidicAloe veragel incorporated PVA/tetracycline electrospun cell culture scaffolds for biomedical applications

In this study, hybrid nanofibrous 3D scaffolds containingAloe vera(AV), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) are fabricated by electrospinning for cell culture applications. The role of polysaccharides present in AV gel is found to enhance the biocompatibility of the nanofibrous scaffolds. Different combinations of the polymers were selected to produce homogenous nanofibers with favorable mean fiber diameter and tensile strength. The surface morphology of the products was studied by SEM and it is found that the mean fiber diameter is decreased to about 188 nm upon addition of the AV component. The electrospun scaffolds were investigated by FT-IR spectroscopy to reveal the chemical structure of the samples and their crystallinity was studied by XRD. The hydrophilicity of the scaffolds was tested by optical contact angle measurements and their mechanical strength was examined by tensile strength tests. It is found that PVA is the main component contributing the mechanical stability of the scaffold structure. The fabricated scaffolds presented a more pronounced inhibitory effect against Gram-positive bacterial strains ofS. aureusandB. cereus. Cell culture experiments using fibroblast L929 murine cells reveals that the AV/PVA/TCH scaffolds are promising for cell growth and the cells are capable of achieving a proper cell adhesion and proliferation. The cell viability experiment by MTT assay exhibits the contributing role of AV gel to L929 cell viability on the AV/PVA/TCH scaffolds.