Abstract
Fibrous hydrogel scaffolds have recently attracted increasing attention for tissue engineering applications. While a number of approaches have been proposed for fabricating microfibers, it remains difficult for current methods to produce materials that meet the essential requirements of being simple, flexible and bio-friendly. It is especially challenging to prepare cell-laden microfibers which have different structures to meet the needs of various applications using a simple device. In this study, we developed a facile two-flow microfluidic system, through which cell-laden hydrogel microfibers with various structures could be easily prepared in one step. Aiming to meet different tissue engineering needs, several types of microfibers with different structures, including single-layer, double-layer and hollow microfibers, have been prepared using an alginate-methacrylated gelatin composite hydrogel by merely changing the inner and outer fluids. Cell-laden single-layer microfibers were obtained by subsequently seeding mouse embryonic osteoblast precursor cells (MC3T3-E1) cells on the surface of the as-prepared microfibers. Cell-laden double-layer and hollow microfibers were prepared by directly encapsulating MC3T3-E1 cells or human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) in the cores of microfibers upon their fabrication. Prominent proliferation of cells happened in all cell-laden single-layer, double-layer and hollow microfibers, implying potential applications for them in tissue engineering.
Highlights
Tissue engineering is an exciting research area that has played a pivotal role in replacement and regeneration of tissues and organs
Gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) is made from animal tissue extracts and has considerable biocompatibility
To resolve the above problem, Alg-GelMA composite hydrogel could be formed by mixing alginate and GelMA and subsequently crosslinking through both calcium
Summary
Tissue engineering is an exciting research area that has played a pivotal role in replacement and regeneration of tissues and organs. Various polymer materials have been exploited as scaffolds for potentially mimicking extracellular matrixes [4]. Aliphatic polyesters including poly(glycolic acid) (PGA), poly(lactic acid) (PLA), and copolymers (PLGA) of these materials, which are approved for use in the body by the FDA, are the most widely used synthetic polymers [5,6]. They are typically processed under extreme conditions, which make bioactive factor incorporation and cells encapsulation a big challenge. A variety of hydrogels are employed as scaffold
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