title: Nanofiber scaffold gradients for interfacial tissue engineering.
abstract: We have designed a 2-spinnerette device that can directly electrospin nanofiber scaffolds containing a gradient in composition that can be used to engineer interfacial tissues such as ligament and tendon. Two types of nanofibers are simultaneously electrospun in an overlapping pattern to create a nonwoven mat of nanofibers containing a composition gradient. The approach is an advance over previous methods due to its versatility - gradients can be formed from any materials that can be electrospun. A dye was used to characterize the 2-spinnerette approach and applicability to tissue engineering was demonstrated by fabricating nanofibers with gradients in amorphous calcium phosphate nanoparticles (nACP). Adhesion and proliferation of osteogenic cells (MC3T3-E1 murine pre-osteoblasts) on gradients was enhanced on the regions of the gradients that contained higher nACP content yielding a graded osteoblast response. Since increases in soluble calcium and phosphate ions stimulate osteoblast function, we measured their release and observed significant release from nanofibers containing nACP. The nanofiber-nACP gradients fabricated herein can be applied to generate tissues with osteoblast gradients such as ligaments or tendons. In conclusion, these results introduce a versatile approach for fabricating nanofiber gradients that can have application for engineering graded tissues.
authors.affiliation: Polymers Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA.
authors.forename: Murugan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ramalingam
authors.forename: Marian F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: Vinoy
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Limin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Laurence C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Chow
authors.forename: Christopher K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Tison
authors.forename: Kaushik
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chatterjee
authors.forename: William C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Miles
authors.forename: Carl G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Simon
mesh_terms: D016475:3T3 Cells; D000818:Animals; D002130:Calcium Phosphates / Q000737:chemistry; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D008422:Materials Testing; D051379:Mice; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D057139:Nanofibers / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation; D010006:Osteoblasts / Q000166:cytology; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000295:instrumentation*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D002130:Calcium Phosphates; C020243:calcium phosphate