Three‐dimensional nanofibrous and porous scaffolds of poly(ε‐caprolactone)‐chitosan blends for musculoskeletal tissue engineering

• Published in: Journal of biomedical materials research. Part A Vol. 111; no. 7; pp. 950 - 961
• Main Authors: Pereira, Andreia Leal, Semitela, Ângela, Girão, André F., Completo, António, Marques, Paula A. A. P., Guieu, Samuel, Fernandes, Maria Helena V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.07.2023; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Adult; Biocompatibility; Cartilage; Cell culture; Chitosan; Chondrocytes; Electrospinning; electrospinning nanofibers PCL‐chitosan blend; Extracellular matrix; Fabrication; Humans; Mixtures; Nanofibers - chemistry; Physicochemical properties; Polycaprolactone; Polyesters - chemistry; Porosity; Scaffolds; three‐dimensional scaffold; Tissue engineering; Tissue Engineering - methods; Tissue Scaffolds - chemistry; three-dimensional scaffold; tissue engineering; electrospinning nanofibers PCL-chitosan blend
• ISSN: 1549-3296; 1552-4965
• DOI: 10.1002/jbm.a.37480

One of the established tissue engineering strategies relies on the fabrication of appropriate materials architectures (scaffolds) that mimic the extracellular matrix (ECM) and assist the regeneration of living tissues. Fibrous structures produced by electrospinning have been widely used as reliable ECM templates but their two‐dimensional structure restricts, in part, cell infiltration and proliferation. A recent technique called thermally‐induced self‐agglomeration (TISA) allowed to alleviate this drawback by rearranging the 2D electrospun membranes into highly functional 3D porous‐fibrous systems. Following this trend, the present research focused on preparing polycaprolactone/chitosan blends by electrospinning, to then convert them into 3D structures by TISA. By adding different amounts of chitosan, it was possible to accurately modulate the physicochemical properties of the obtained 3D nanofibrous scaffolds, leading to highly porous constructs with distinct morphologic and mechanical features. Viability and proliferation studies using adult human chondrocytes also revealed that the biocompatibility of the scaffolds was not impaired after 28 days of cell culture, highlighting their potential to be included into musculoskeletal tissue engineering applications, particularly cartilage repair. Three‐dimensional architectures for cartilage repair produced by thermally‐induced self‐agglomeration of electrospun fibers.