Hybrid PGS-PCL microfibrous scaffolds with improved mechanical and biological properties.
Poly(glycerol sebacate) (PGS) is a biodegradable elastomer that has generated great interest as a scaffold material due to its desirable mechanical properties. However, the use of PGS in tissue engineering is limited by difficulties in casting micro- and nanofibrous structures, due to high temperatures and vacuum required for its curing and limited solubility of the cured polymer. In this paper, we developed microfibrous scaffolds made from blends of PGS and poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) using a standard electrospinning set-up. At a given PGS:PCL ratio, higher voltage resulted in significantly smaller fibre diameters (reduced from ∼4 µm to 2.8 µm; p < 0.05). Further increase in voltage resulted in the fusion of fibres. Similarly, higher PGS concentrations in the polymer blend resulted in significantly increased fibre diameter (p < 0.01). We further compared the mechanical properties of electrospun PGS:PCL scaffolds with those made from PCL. Scaffolds with higher PGS concentrations showed higher elastic modulus (EM), ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and ultimate elongation (UE) (p < 0.01) without the need for thermal curing or photocrosslinking. Biological evaluation of these scaffolds showed significantly improved HUVEC attachment and proliferation compared to PCL-only scaffolds (p < 0.05). Thus, we have demonstrated that simple blends of PGS prepolymer with PCL can be used to fabricate microfibrous scaffolds with mechanical properties in the range of a human aortic valve leaflet.
Sant
Shilpa
S
Center for Biomedical Engineering, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Hwang
Chang Mo
CM
Lee
Sang-Hoon
SH
Khademhosseini
Ali
A
D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000187:drug effects; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000187:drug effects; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D048430:Cell Shape / Q000187:drug effects; D003651:Decanoates / Q000494:pharmacology*; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects; D005990:Glycerol / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D008422:Materials Testing / Q000379:methods*; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena / Q000187:drug effects*; D011091:Polyesters / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011108:Polymers / Q000494:pharmacology*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry*; D014471:Umbilical Veins / Q000166:cytology; D017155:Wettability / Q000187:drug effects
D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D003651:Decanoates; D011091:Polyesters; D011108:Polymers; C469892:poly(glycerol-sebacate); C016240:polycaprolactone; D005990:Glycerol