Problem Statement and Motivation

Key Achievement and Future GoalsTechnical Approach

Orienting Human Stem Cells (hMSCs) by Means of Electrospun Polymer Nanofibers

Investigators: M. Cho, Bioengineering; A. Yarin, C. M. Megaridis, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering; E. Zussman, Technion-Israel

• Cell orientation and adhesion control the functionality of natural and engineered tissues

• Electrospinning is a low-cost technique which can produce polymer nanofibers aligned along a specific direction

• Polymer nanofibers can be used to mimic the native extracellular matrix (ECM) features

• Electrospun polymer nanofiber scaffolds are used to manipulate cell orientation and adhesion

• hMSCs adhered and oriented along PCL nanofibers

• During long-term culture, hMSCs demonstrated no preferred orientation on random nanofibrous scaffolds; cells consistently aligned on oriented scaffolds

• Oriented PCL nanofibrous scaffolds could be used to mimic the cell and ECM organization in the native tissue, such as muscle, tendon, and the superficial zone of articular cartilage

• The fiber scaffold/hSMC approach holds promise for a variety of tissue engineering applications

• Random and oriented polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibrous scaffolds produced using electrospinning

• hMSCs were cultured and seeded on two scaffold types (random, oriented)

• Orientations of hMSCs and nanofibers on random and oriented nanofibrous scaffold samples were measured via laser scanning confocal microscopy at different time points during an 18-day culture period

• hMSC viability tests were performed to verify compatibility of the cells with the PCL

A2

A3

B2

B3

B1A1

A2

A3

B2

B3

B1A1

Random Oriented

Cells: Green, Nanofibers: Red