title: Template-assisted extrusion of biopolymer nanofibers under physiological conditions.
abstract: Biomedical applications ranging from tissue engineering to drug delivery systems require versatile biomaterials based on the scalable and tunable production of biopolymer nanofibers under physiological conditions. These requirements can be successfully met by a novel extrusion process through nanoporous aluminum oxide templates, which is presented in this study. With this simple method we are able to control the nanofiber diameter by chosing the size of the nanopores and the concentration of the biopolymer feed solution. Nanofiber assembly into different hierarchical fiber arrangements can be achieved with a wide variety of different proteins ranging from the intracellular proteins actin, α-actinin and myosin to the extracellular matrix components collagen, fibronectin, fibrinogen, elastin and laminin. The extrusion of nanofibers can even be applied to the polysaccharides hyaluronan, chitosan and chondroitin sulphate. Moreover, blends of different proteins or proteins and polysaccharides can be extruded into composite nanofibers. With these features our template-assisted extrusion process will lead to new avenues in the development of nanofibrous biomaterials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biointerphase Science & Technology, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Jahnstraße 29, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. brueggemann@uni-bremen.de and Department of Biophysical Chemistry, University of Heidelberg, INF 253, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany and Nanotechnology Research Center, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 1417614411, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Raoufi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biointerphase Science & Technology, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Jahnstraße 29, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. brueggemann@uni-bremen.de and Department of Biophysical Chemistry, University of Heidelberg, INF 253, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Neda
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Aslankoohi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biointerphase Science & Technology, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Jahnstraße 29, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. brueggemann@uni-bremen.de and Department of Biophysical Chemistry, University of Heidelberg, INF 253, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mollenhauer
authors.affiliation: Department of Biointerphase Science & Technology, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Jahnstraße 29, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. brueggemann@uni-bremen.de and Department of Biophysical Chemistry, University of Heidelberg, INF 253, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany and CSF Biomaterials and Cellular Biophysics, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Heisenbergstr. 3, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Heike
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Boehm
authors.affiliation: Department of Biointerphase Science & Technology, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Jahnstraße 29, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. brueggemann@uni-bremen.de and Department of Biophysical Chemistry, University of Heidelberg, INF 253, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Joachim P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Spatz
authors.affiliation: Department of Biointerphase Science & Technology, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Jahnstraße 29, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. brueggemann@uni-bremen.de and Department of Biophysical Chemistry, University of Heidelberg, INF 253, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany and Institute for Biophysics, University of Bremen, Otto-Hahn-Allee 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: Dorothea
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Brüggemann
mesh_terms: D001704:Biopolymers / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003094:Collagen / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005353:Fibronectins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000648:ultrastructure; D044085:Microfluidics / Q000379:methods; D057139:Nanofibers / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D058608:Nanopores / Q000648:ultrastructure*
chemical_list: D001704:Biopolymers; D005353:Fibronectins; D003094:Collagen