Novel Nanofiber-Based Scaffold for Rotator Cuff Repair and Augmentation

The debilitating effects of rotator cuff tears and the high incidence of failure associated with current grafts underscore the clinical demand for functional solutions for tendon repair and augmentation. To address this challenge, we have designed a poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanofiber-based scaffold for rotator cuff tendon tissue engineering. In addition to scaffold design and characterization, the objective of this study was to evaluate the attachment, alignment, gene expression, and matrix elaboration of human rotator cuff fibroblasts on aligned and unaligned PLGA nanofiber scaffolds. Additionally, the effects of in vitro culture on scaffold mechanical properties were determined over time. It has been hypothesized that nanofiber organization regulates cellular response and scaffold properties. It was observed that rotator cuff fibroblasts cultured on the aligned scaffolds attached along the nanofiber long axis, whereas the cells on the unaligned scaffold were polygonal and randomly oriented. Mor...