title: A simple method for fabrication of electrospun fibers with controlled degree of alignment having potential for nerve regeneration applications.
abstract: In peripheral nerve injuries where direct suturing of nerve endings is not feasible, nerve regeneration has been facilitated through the use of artificially aligned fibrous scaffolds that provide directional growth of neurons to bridge the gap. The degree of fiber alignment is crucial and can impact the directionality of cells in a fibrous scaffold. While there have been multiple approaches that have been used for controlling fiber alignment, however, they have been associated with a compromised control on other properties, such as diameter, morphology, curvature, and topology of fibers. Therefore, the present study demonstrates a modified electrospinning set-up, that enabled fabrication of electrospun fibers with controlled degree of alignment from non-aligned (NA), moderately aligned (MA, 75%) to highly aligned (HA, 95%) sub-micron fibers while keeping other physical properties unchanged. The results demonstrate that the aligned fibers (MA and HA) facilitated directional growth of human astrocytoma cells (U373), wherein the aspect ratio of cells was found to increase with an increase in degree of fibers alignment. In contrast to NA and MA fibers, the HA fibers showed improved contact guidance to U373 cells that was demonstrated by a significantly higher cell aspect ratio and nuclear aspect ratio. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated a modified electrospinning setup to fabricate differentially aligned fibrous scaffolds with the HA fibers showing potential for use in neural tissue engineering.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur 208016, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Sunil Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Vimal
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur 208016, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Nadim
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ahamad
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur 208016, Uttar Pradesh, India. Electronic address: dsk@iitk.ac.in.
authors.forename: Dhirendra S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Katti
mesh_terms: D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D009416:Nerve Regeneration / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials
keywords: Contact guidance; Controlled degree of alignment; Electrospinning; Fiber alignment; Neural tissue engineering and nerve regeneration