Electrospun poly(ester-Urethane)- and poly(ester-Urethane-Urea) fleeces as promising tissue engineering scaffolds for adipose-derived stem cells

PLoS One. 2014 Mar 4;9(3):e90676. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0090676. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

An irreversible loss of subcutaneous adipose tissue in patients after tumor removal or deep dermal burns makes soft tissue engineering one of the most important challenges in biomedical research. The ideal scaffold for adipose tissue engineering has yet not been identified though biodegradable polymers gained an increasing interest during the last years. In the present study we synthesized two novel biodegradable polymers, poly(ε-caprolactone-co-urethane-co-urea) (PEUU) and poly[(L-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone)-co-(L-lysine ethyl ester diisocyanate)-block-oligo(ethylene glycol)-urethane] (PEU), containing different types of hydrolytically cleavable bondings. Solutions of the polymers at appropriate concentrations were used to fabricate fleeces by electrospinning. Ultrastructure, tensile properties, and degradation of the produced fleeces were evaluated. Adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) were seeded on fleeces and morphology, viability, proliferation and differentiation were assessed. The biomaterials show fine micro- and nanostructures composed of fibers with diameters of about 0.5 to 1.3 µm. PEUU fleeces were more elastic, which might be favourable in soft tissue engineering, and degraded significantly slower compared to PEU. ASCs were able to adhere, proliferate and differentiate on both scaffolds. Morphology of the cells was slightly better on PEUU than on PEU showing a more physiological appearance. ASCs differentiated into the adipogenic lineage. Gene analysis of differentiated ASCs showed typical expression of adipogenetic markers such as PPARgamma and FABP4. Based on these results, PEUU and PEU meshes show a promising potential as scaffold materials in adipose tissue engineering.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adipocytes / cytology*
  • Adipose Tissue / cytology*
  • Biocompatible Materials / chemistry
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Humans
  • Materials Testing
  • Polyesters / chemistry*
  • Stem Cells / cytology*
  • Tissue Engineering / methods
  • Tissue Scaffolds / chemistry*

Substances

  • Biocompatible Materials
  • Polyesters
  • poly(ester urethane)urea

Grants and funding

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) through the ArtiVasc 3D project under grant agreement n°263416. http://ec.europa.eu/research/fp7/index_en.cfm. http://www.artivasc.eu/. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.