Collagen-Based Electrospun Materials for Tissue Engineering: A Systematic Review.

Britani N Blackstone,Summer C Gallentine,Heather M Powell

doi:10.3390/bioengineering8030039

Britani N Blackstone, Summer C Gallentine + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering8030039

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Abstract

Collagen is a key component of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in organs and tissues throughout the body and is used for many tissue engineering applications. Electrospinning of collagen can produce scaffolds in a wide variety of shapes, fiber diameters and porosities to match that of the native ECM. This systematic review aims to pool data from available manuscripts on electrospun collagen and tissue engineering to provide insight into the connection between source material, solvent, crosslinking method and functional outcomes. D-banding was most often observed in electrospun collagen formed using collagen type I isolated from calfskin, often isolated within the laboratory, with short solution solubilization times. All physical and chemical methods of crosslinking utilized imparted resistance to degradation and increased strength. Cytotoxicity was observed at high concentrations of crosslinking agents and when abbreviated rinsing protocols were utilized. Collagen and collagen-based scaffolds were capable of forming engineered tissues in vitro and in vivo with high similarity to the native structures.

Highlights

Collagen, type I, is a major constituent of many tissues and organs, including skin, bone, tendon, blood vessels, and cardiac tissue
A systematic review of the literature published on electrospun collagen materials for tissue engineering applications was conducted
Collagen can be extracted from a number of different tissues and a wide variety of organisms, including mammals, amphibians, fish, and birds [103]

Summary

Introduction

Type I, is a major constituent of many tissues and organs, including skin, bone, tendon, blood vessels, and cardiac tissue. Given the fibrous nature of the native ECM, electrospinning, a technique that creates matrices comprised of nanometric or micron-sized fibers, is commonly utilized to generate scaffolds for tissue engineering [6,7,8,9]. Scaffold properties, such as fiber diameter, porosity, interfiber distance, and fiber organization can be altered via changes in spinning parameters (polymer, solvent, solution concentration, needle-ground distance, applied voltage), leading to a wide variety of scaffold architectures that can be manufactured to mimic the native ECM structure [10,11]. There are conflicting reports regarding the ultrastructure of electrospun collagen materials [17,18], the toxicity of chemical crosslinkers used to stabilize the matrices [19,20] and mechanical properties of these matrices [21,22]

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