title: Cell attachment to hydrogel-electrospun fiber mat composite materials.
abstract: Hydrogels, electrospun fiber mats (EFMs), and their composites have been extensively studied for tissue engineering because of their physical and chemical similarity to native biological systems. However, while chemically similar, hydrogels and electrospun fiber mats display very different topographical features. Here, we examine the influence of surface topography and composition of hydrogels, EFMs, and hydrogel-EFM composites on cell behavior. Materials studied were composed of synthetic poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(ε-caprolactone) (PEGPCL) hydrogels and electrospun poly(caprolactone) (PCL) and core/shell PCL/PEGPCL constituent materials. The number of adherent cells and cell circularity were most strongly influenced by the fibrous nature of materials (e.g., topography), whereas cell spreading was more strongly influenced by material composition (e.g., chemistry). These results suggest that cell attachment and proliferation to hydrogel-EFM composites can be tuned by varying these properties to provide important insights for the future design of such composite materials.
authors: William G. Lowrie Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. Ceres-han@hotmail.com.
authors: Ning
authors: N
authors: Han
authors: Department of Materials and Science Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. jed.johnson@nanofibersolutions.com.
authors: Jed K
authors: JK
authors: Johnson
authors: Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. bradley.317@osu.edu.
authors: Patrick A
authors: PA
authors: Bradley
authors: William G. Lowrie Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. kunal.parikh.71@gmail.com.
authors: Kunal S
authors: KS
authors: Parikh
authors: Department of Materials and Science Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. lannuttj@matsceng.ohio-state.edu.
authors: John J
authors: JJ
authors: Lannutti
authors: William G. Lowrie Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. winter.63@osu.edu.
authors: Jessica O
authors: JO
authors: Winter