Fabrication of Tubular Scaffolds with Controllable Fiber Orientations Using Electrospinning for Tissue Engineering

Abstract

Tubular scaffolds with controllable fiber orientations are fabricated by electrospinning with a conductive rotating drum in the presence of a parallel or orthogonal conductive wire. A higher rotational speed of the drum results in thinner fibers and a more aligned fibrous structure. The fiber orientation can be further precisely controlled by the design of a conductive wire capable of guiding the deposition of electrospun fibers. Parallel or orthogonal fiber orientations in the tubular scaffolds are achieved using an orthogonal or parallel conductive wire, respectively, at a high rotational speed of the drum. Cell culture on the scaffolds with random, parallel, and orthogonal fiber orientations reveals that the degree of stretching of the fibroblast is highly affected by the fiber orientations.