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)
Summary
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
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