Novel approach for the assessment of ovarian follicles infiltration in polymeric electrospun patterned scaffolds

PLoS One. 2019 Apr 29;14(4):e0215985. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0215985. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Reproductive tissue engineering (REPROTEN) has been recently defined as the application of the tissue engineering approach targeting reproductive organs and several research works are focusing on this novel strategy. Being still an innovative field, most of the scaffold characterization techniques suitable for other tissue targets give inappropriate results, and there is the need to evaluate and investigate novel approaches. In particular the focus of this paper is the evaluation of the infiltration of ovarian follicles inside patterned electrospun scaffolds. Beyond the standard techniques, for the first time the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for this purpose is proposed and specific protocols for scaffold preparation are reported. Positive results in terms of evaluation of scaffolds incorporating follicles confirm this technique as highly effective for further applications in this field.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Female
  • Gelatin / pharmacology
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Ovarian Follicle / physiology*
  • Polymers / pharmacology*
  • Sus scrofa
  • Tissue Engineering / methods*
  • Tissue Scaffolds / chemistry*

Substances

  • Polymers
  • Gelatin

Grants and funding

The authors received no specific funding for this work.