In Vitro Characterization of Multilamellar Fibers with Uniaxially Oriented Electrospun Type I Collagen Scaffolds

Alireza Hooshmand-Ardakani,Tahereh Talaei-Khozani,Nehleh Zarei-Fard,Soghra Bahmanpour,Mehdi Sadat-Shojai

doi:10.1155/2020/4084317

Abstract

Fabrication of an appropriate scaffold is critical in order to recapitulate the architecture and functionality of the native tissue. In this study, we attempted to create favorable collagen fiber alignment and multilamellar with uniaxially oriented layers, using a disc collector by turning mats 90 degrees horizontally at specific times. Different concentrations of rat tail-derived type I collagen (3, 6, 8% w/v) in 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) are used for electrospinning affairs. The 6% w/v collagen at an applied voltage of 20 kV and collector rotation of 2500 rpm was selected to exhibit bead-free homogeneous nanofiber with fiber thickness of 0.14 ± 0.4 µm, maximum thickness of 0.5 ± 0.08 µm, and 60% porosity. Also, scanning electron microscope images of electrospun fibers showed 3D multilamellar scaffold with the goodness of 96.5% ± 0.8 in each aligned uniaxially oriented fiber layer. Cross-linking of collagen fibers with N-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-N0-ethylcarbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC)/N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) reduced the fiber degradation rate and preserved the fiber morphology and alignment. The multilamellar mat showed significant increase in tensile strength and average breaking elongation in comparison with unilamellar mat. In vitro cell culture, using human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hAT-MSCs) on cross-linked scaffold, showed improvement in cell proliferation, attachment, migration, and intercellular junction with a flattened morphology. Raman spectra revealed the preservation of collagen structure. In addition, Raman spectra of the cell containing scaffold were the same as those of an intact intervertebral disc as a sample to be used in engineering tissues. In conclusion, our results showed that the 3D multilamellar collagen nanofibrous scaffold is more appropriate for the tissues that have multilamellar structure.

Highlights

One important part of tissue engineering triad is biomaterials in the form of scaffolds
Since producing nanofibers with high porosity and specific surface area using electrostatic force is easy and cost-effective and requires a simple system, many researchers in the field of tissue engineering are in favor of the electrospinning technique for preparing scaffolds
It is important that morphology and structure of nanofibers should accommodate with natural extracellular matrix construct [9]

Summary

Introduction

One important part of tissue engineering triad is biomaterials in the form of scaffolds. Electrospinning is one of the techniques which is used for scaffold fabrication [1,2,3]. Nanofibers with random and aligned orientation can be obtained from electrospinning [4, 5]. Since producing nanofibers with high porosity and specific surface area using electrostatic force is easy and cost-effective and requires a simple system, many researchers in the field of tissue engineering are in favor of the electrospinning technique for preparing scaffolds. Electrospun nanofiber orientation and direction should reinforce the construct against mechanical forces exposed to a tissue [10, 11]. Some studies reported the fabrication of aligned electrospun nanofibers by utilizing

Methods

Results

Conclusion