A hierarchically ordered compacted coil scaffold for tissue regeneration

Hierarchically ordered scaffold has a great impact on cell patterning and tissue engineering. The introduction of controllable coils into a scaffold offers an additional unique structural feature compared to conventional linear patterned scaffolds and can greatly increase interior complexity and versatility. In this work, 3D coil compacted scaffolds with hierarchically ordered patterns and tunable coil densities created using speed-programmed melt electrospinning writing (sMEW) successfully led to in vitro cell growth in patterns with tunable cell density. Subcutaneous implantation in mice showed great in vivo biocompatibility, as evidenced by no significant increase in tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) and interleukin 6 (IL-6) levels in mouse serum. In addition, a lumbar vertebra was successfully printed for mesenchymal stem cells to grow in the desired pattern. A long-range patterned matrix composed of programmable short-range compacted coils enabled the design of complex structures, e.g., for tailored implants, by readily depositing short-range coil-compacted secondary architectures along with customized primary design. Improvements to a recently developed technique for printing biomaterials could make it easier to fabricate complex scaffolds for tissue regrowth. By shaping biocompatible polymers into thin microfibers and then collecting the strands on a moving platform, researchers can build tissue scaffolds layer-by-layer into 3D structures. Yingchun Su from the Harbin Institute of Technology in Harbin, China, and Aarhus University, Denmark, and colleagues report that materials printed by this ‘speed-programmed melt electrospinning writing’ technique can be composed of coil-shaped microfibers. The team found that the coil-like strands, produced by manipulating platform collection speeds, were effective at introducing pores into 3D scaffolds to better mimic natural tissue. Experiments showed this approach enabled better control over the cell density and growth behavior of stem cells implanted in a scaffold shaped like an artificial lumbar vertebra. Speed-programmed melt electrospinning writing (sMEW) is used to create a hierarchically ordered biomimetic scaffold with long-range patterned and short-range porous architectures for cell growth in patterns with tunable cell density.