Harnessing the Topography of 3D Spongy-Like Electrospun Bundled Fibrous Scaffold via a Sharply Inclined Array Collector

Polymers (Basel). 2019 Sep 3;11(9):1444. doi: 10.3390/polym11091444.

Abstract

To date, many researchers have studied a considerable number of three-dimensional (3D) cotton-like electrospun scaffolds for tissue engineering, including the generation of bone, cartilage, and skin tissue. Although numerous 3D electrospun fibrous matrixes have been successfully developed, additional research is needed to produce 3D patterned and sophisticated structures. The development of 3D fibrous matrixes with patterned and sophisticated structures (FM-PSS) capable of mimicking the extracellular matrix (ECM) is important for advancing tissue engineering. Because modulating nano to microscale features of the 3D fibrous scaffold to control the ambient microenvironment of target tissue cells can play a pivotal role in inducing tissue morphogenesis after transplantation in a living system. To achieve this objective, the 3D FM-PSSs were successfully generated by the electrospinning using a directional change of the sharply inclined array collector. The 3D FM-PSSs overcome the current limitations of conventional electrospun cotton-type 3D matrixes of random fibers.

Keywords: 3D aligned fibers; 3D electrospun scaffolds; cottony fibers; electrospinning; fiber topography.