Electrohydrodynamic 3D printing of layer-specifically oriented, multiscale conductive scaffolds for cardiac tissue engineering

Nanoscale. 2019 Aug 15;11(32):15195-15205. doi: 10.1039/c9nr04989d.

Abstract

Mimicking the hierarchical microarchitecture of native myocardium in vitro plays an important role in cardiac tissue engineering. Here we present a novel strategy to produce multiscale conductive scaffolds with layer-specific fiber orientations for cardiac regeneration by combining solution-based and melt-based electrohydrodynamic (EHD) printing techniques. Polycaprolactone (PCL) microfibers were printed by melt-based EHD printing and the fiber orientation was flexibly controlled in a layer-by-layer manner according to user-specific design. The as-printed microfibrous scaffolds can provide the seeded cells necessary contact cues to guide layer-specific cellular alignments. Sub-microscale conductive fibers were simultaneously incorporated inside the well-organized PCL scaffolds by solution-based EHD printing, which significantly improved the conductivity as well as the cellular adhesion and proliferation capacity. The multiscale conductive scaffolds can further direct the multiple-layer alignments of primary cardiomyocytes and facilitate cardiomyocyte-specific gene expressions, which exhibited enhanced synchronous beating behavior compared with pure microfibrous scaffolds. It is envisioned that the proposed hybrid EHD printing technique might provide a promising strategy to fabricate multifunctional micro/nanofibrous scaffolds with biomimetic architectures, electrical conductivity and even biosensing properties for the regeneration of electroactive tissues.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Adhesion
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Electric Conductivity
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence
  • Myocytes, Cardiac / cytology
  • Myocytes, Cardiac / metabolism
  • Nanofibers / chemistry
  • Polyesters / chemistry
  • Polystyrenes / chemistry
  • Printing, Three-Dimensional*
  • Rats
  • Rats, Sprague-Dawley
  • Thiophenes / chemistry
  • Tissue Engineering*
  • Tissue Scaffolds / chemistry*

Substances

  • Polyesters
  • Polystyrenes
  • Thiophenes
  • poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate)
  • polycaprolactone