Electrospun polycaprolactone matrices with tensile properties suitable for soft tissue engineering

Abstract

The extracellular environment is a complex network of functional and structural components that impart chemical and mechanical stimuli that affect cellular function and fate. Cell differentiation on three dimensional scaffolds is also determined by the modulus of the substrate. Electrospun PCL nanofibers, which mimic the extra cellular matrix, have been developed with a wide variety of solvents and their combinations. The various studies have revealed that the solvents used influence the physical and mechanical properties, resulting in scaffolds with Young's modulus in the range of 1.8–15.4 MPa, more suitable for engineering of hard tissue like bone. The current study describes the use of benign binary solvent-generated fibrous scaffolds with a Young's modulus of 36.05 ± 13.08 kPa, which is almost 50 times lower than that of scaffolds derived from the commonly used solvents, characterized with myoblast, which can be further explored for applications in muscle and soft tissue engineering.

Keywords::

• electrospinning
• matrix modulus
• polycaprolactone
• 3D scaffolds

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, for funding this work (BT/PR11228/BRB/10/677/2008). We thank the members of the Biotechnology wing of Sree Chitra Thirunal Institute of Medical Science and Technology for their help with tensile testing.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no declarations of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.