Abstract

Engineering of anisotropic tissues demands extracellular matrix (ECM) mimicking scaffolds with an asymmetric distribution of functionalities. We here describe a convenient, modular approach based on supramolecular building blocks to form electrospun bilayered scaffolds with tailorable properties. Polymers and peptides functionalized with hydrogen-bonding ureido-pyrimidinone (UPy) moieties can easily be mixed-and-matched to explore new material combinations with optimal properties. These combinatorial supramolecular biomaterials, processed by electrospinning, enable the formation of modular fibrous scaffolds. We demonstrate how UPy-functionalized polymers based on polycaprolactone and poly(ethylene glycol) enable us to unite both cell-adhesive and non-cell adhesive characters into a single electrospun bilayered scaffold. We furthermore show that the non-cell adhesive layer can be bioactivated and made adhesive for kidney epithelial cells by the incorporation of 4 mol% of UPy-modified Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) peptide in the electrospinning solution. These findings show that the UPy-based supramolecular biomaterial system offers a versatile toolbox to form modular multilayered scaffolds for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications such as the formation of membranes for a living bioartificial kidney.

Highlights

  • Most tissues have anisotropic properties, both at structural and functional levels

  • For the rst time, we report the use of two different UPy–polymers that are applied in a mix-and-match approach to establish the desired material properties; nonadhesive for cells and suitable mechanical properties to allow the formation of a micro brous, porous scaffold

  • This allowed recording of both backscattering electron (BSE) and secondary electron (SE) signals directly from the sample and the ability to distinguish between both layers based on a small difference in chemical composition (Fig. 2)

Read more

Summary

Introduction

Most tissues have anisotropic properties, both at structural and functional levels. Tissue engineering o en demands anisotropic scaffold materials. This anisotropy can be the result of difference in chemical composition or of physical structure. The simplest form of anisotropy is achieved via the formation of a bilayered structure, which results in uniaxial asymmetry. Many examples of bilayered scaffolds are found in the literature in which chemical and/or structural properties vary uniaxially. An example of a single component bilayer is a vascular gra scaffold that is formed from a synthetic, biodegradable elastomer, using two different processing techniques.[1] The inner layer is rst produced via thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) to form a highly porous sponge structure. A micro brous outer layer is formed directly on top of the inner layer via

Methods
Results
Conclusion
Full Text
Paper version not known

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call