title: Dual-Microstructured Porous, Anisotropic Film for Biomimicking of Endothelial Basement Membrane.
abstract: Human endothelial basement membrane (BM) plays a pivotal role in vascular development and homeostasis. Here, a bioresponsive film with dual-microstructured geometries was engineered to mimic the structural roles of the endothelial BM in developing vessels, for vascular tissue engineering (TE) application. Flexible poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) thin film was fabricated with microscale anisotropic ridges/grooves and through-holes using a combination of uniaxial thermal stretching and direct laser perforation, respectively. Through optimizing the interhole distance, human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) cultured on the PCL film's ridges/grooves obtained an intact cell alignment efficiency. With prolonged culturing for 8 days, these cells formed aligned cell multilayers as found in native tunica media. By coculturing human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) on the opposite side of the film, HUVECs were observed to build up transmural interdigitation cell-cell contact with MSCs via the through-holes, leading to a rapid endothelialization on the PCL film surface. Furthermore, vascular tissue construction based on the PCL film showed enhanced bioactivity with an elevated total nitric oxide level as compared to single MSCs or HUVECs culturing and indirect MSCs/HUVECs coculturing systems. These results suggested that the dual-microstructured porous and anisotropic film could simulate the structural roles of endothelial BM for vascular reconstruction, with aligned stromal cell multilayers, rapid endothelialization, and direct cell-cell interaction between the engineered stromal and endothelial components. This study has implications of recapitulating endothelial BM architecture for the de novo design of vascular TE scaffolds.
authors.affiliation: †Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117576, Singapore.
authors.forename: Zuyong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: ‡School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637459, Singapore.
authors.forename: Swee Hin
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Teoh
authors.affiliation: §Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, 2 Engineering Drive 3, Singapore 117576, Singapore.
authors.forename: Minghui
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: §Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, 2 Engineering Drive 3, Singapore 117576, Singapore.
authors.forename: Fangfang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: ⊥Department of Reproductive Medicine, KK Women's and Children's Hospital, 100 Buikit Timah Road, Singapore 229899, Singapore.
authors.forename: Erin Yiling
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Teo
authors.affiliation: ⊥Department of Reproductive Medicine, KK Women's and Children's Hospital, 100 Buikit Timah Road, Singapore 229899, Singapore.|∥Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, 14 Medical Drive, Singapore 117599, Singapore.|⊗Cancer and Stem Cell Biology, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, 8 College Road, Singapore 169857, Singapore.
authors.forename: Jerry Kok Yen
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.affiliation: †Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117576, Singapore.
authors.forename: Eng San
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Thian
mesh_terms: D001485:Basement Membrane / Q000502:physiology*; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D040761:Biomimetic Materials / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000187:drug effects; D002450:Cell Communication / Q000502:physiology; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D018920:Coculture Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D061307:Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells / Q000166:cytology; D006801:Humans; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology; D016062:Porosity; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000295:instrumentation*
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials
keywords: cellular alignment; cell−cell interaction; endothelial basement membrane; porous micropatterned film; vascular tissue engineering