Fabrication and performance of nanofibrous cell- and growth factor-incorporated tissue engineering scaffolds

Abstract

Nanofibrous tissue engineering scaffolds have distinctive advantages for regenerating human body tissues and electrospinning is a popular technique for making nanofibrous scaffolds. To overcome limitations of electronspun scaffolds, live cells should be incorporated in the scaffolds. Growth factors can also be encapsulated in scaffolds and their controlled release will enhance tissue regeneration. Thus we have developed versatile concurrent electrospinning and co-axial electrospray technologies for making cell- and growth factor-incorporated nanofibrous scaffolds. In this work, for technology demonstration and for gastrointestinal tract regeneration application, rat gastric smooth muscle cells (rGSMCs) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) were used to produce scaffolds for the targeted application. bFGF encapsulation was achieved through emulsion electrospinning; and rGSMCs were contained in core-shell structured hydrogel microspheres which were made by co-axial electrospray and placed randomly in nanofibrous bFGF-encapsulated scaffolds. Through in vitro biological studies, it was shown that rGSMCs were released from microspheres into scaffolds and had high viability and that bFGF was also released from scaffolds in a controlled manner. The released bFGF could enhance the proliferation and cytoskeleton development of the released rGSMCs inside the scaffolds.