title: Highly porous electrospun nanofibers enhanced by ultrasonication for improved cellular infiltration.
abstract: A significant problem that affects tissue-engineered electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds is poor infiltration of cells into the three-dimensional (3D) structure. Physical manipulation can enhance cellular infiltration into electrospun scaffolds. The porosity of electrospun nanofibers was highly enlarged by ultrasonication in an aqueous solution. The porosity and related property changes on a series of nanofibers were observed to be dependent on ultrasonication time and energy. To evaluate cell infiltration into the scaffold, fibroblasts were seeded onto these nanofibers and cultured for different lengths of time. The penetration levels of these cells into the scaffold were monitored using confocal lazer scanning microscopy. The cell infiltration potential was greatly increased with regard to an increase in pore size and porosity. These 3D nanofibrous scaffolds fabricated by an ultrasonication process allowed cells to infiltrate easily into the scaffold. This approach shows great promise for design of cell permeable nanofibrous scaffolds for tissue-engineering applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Maxillofacial Biomedical Engineering, School of Dentistry, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jung Bok
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Sung In
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Min Soo
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Bae
authors.forename: Dae Hyeok
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Dong Nyoung
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Heo
authors.forename: Chun Ho
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Eben
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Alsberg
authors.forename: Il Keun
authors.initials: IK
authors.lastname: Kwon
mesh_terms: D049109:Cell Proliferation; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D057139:Nanofibers / Q000737:chemistry*; D016062:Porosity; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry*