Human mesenchymal stem-cell behaviour on direct laser micropatterned electrospun scaffolds with hierarchical structures

Abstract

Direct laser machining and electrospinning are utilized to obtain a bi-layered hybrid scaffold with hierarchical topographical features to mimic extracellular matrix-like microenvironment of cells. Adult bone marrow derived human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) are cultured in vitro in these hybrid scaffolds, and cell orientation, proliferation, viability, and differentiation are evaluated. The results show that this novel hybrid scaffold not only supports cell growth like traditional scaffolds, but also elicits positive responses from the cells, like lineage commitment and alignment, which are essential features of future scaffolds.