A trachea has a structure capable of responding to various movements such as rotation of the neck and relaxation/contraction of the conduit due to the mucous membrane and cartilage tissue. However, current reported tubular implanting structures are difficult to impelement as replacements for original trachea movements. Therefore, in this study, we developed a new trachea implant with similar anatomical structure and mechanical properties to native tissue using 3D printing technology and evaluated its performance. A 250 µm-thick layer composed of polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibers was fabricated on a rotating beam using electrospinning technology, and a scaffold with C-shaped cartilage grooves that mimics the human airway structure was printed to enable reconstruction of cartilage outside the airway. A cartilage type scaffold had a highest rotational angle (254°) among them and it showed up to 2.8 times compared to human average neck rotation angle. The cartilage type showed a maximum elongation of 8 times higher than that of the bellows type and it showed the elongation of 3 times higher than that of cylinder type. In cartilage type scaffold, gelatin hydrogel printed on the outside of the scaffold was remain 22.2% under the condition where no hydrogel was left in other type scaffolds. In addition, after 2 days of breathing test, the amount of gelatin remaining inside the scaffold was more than twice that of other scaffolds. This novel trachea scaffold with hydrogel inside and outside of the structure was well-preserved under external flow and is expected to be advantageous for soft tissue reconstruction of the trachea.
Keywords: 3D printing; adhesion; electrospinning; motility; trachea scaffold.