Rapid Fabrication of Cell-Laden Microfibers for Construction of Aligned Biomimetic Tissue

• Published in: Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology Vol. 8; p. 610249
• Main Authors: Lu, Bingchuan, Li, Mingfeng, Fang, Yongcong, Liu, Zibo, Zhang, Ting, Xiong, Zhuo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 18.01.2021
• Subjects: Bioengineering and Biotechnology; cell-laden microfiber; core-sheath microfiber; hollow microfiber; microfiber assembling; wet spinning; core-sheath microfiber; wet spinning; cell-laden microfiber; microfiber assembling; hollow microfiber
• ISSN: 2296-4185; 2296-4185
• DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2020.610249

Bottom-up engineering of tissue constructs is being rapidly developed and broadly applied in biomanufacturing. As one type of building block, cell-laden microfibers are promising for reconstruction of oriented structures and functions of linear tissues, such as skeletal muscles, myocardia, and spinal cord tissues. Herein, we propose wet-spinning method with agitating collection, wherein alginate-based material is extruded into an agitated CaCl bath with a magnetic rotor acting as the microfiber collector. By applying this method, we achieve rapid fabrication and oriented collection of hydrogel microfibers with diameters ranging from 100 to 400 μm. In addition, we encapsulate myoblasts in the hydrogel to form cell-laden microfibers, which show a high viability (more than 94%) during culture. Moreover, the method allows to fabricate of cell-laden core-sheath microfibers and hollow microfibers. We also fabricate 3D constructs using various methods of microfiber assembly like weaving and braiding. The assembling results suggest that the proposed method is a promising technology for bottom-up engineering of aligned biomimetic tissue constructs.