Three-dimensional scaffolds for enhanced tissue regeneration

Abstract

Tissue engineering involves the removal of cells from the patients which is seeded onto a scaffold for cell growth and regeneration. The scaffold serves many functions, such as providing structural support and chemical stimuli for cell proliferation for the implanted cells. Ideally, the scaffold should be three dimensional, highly porous, biocompatible, as well as, provides the suitable surface chemistry for cell proliferation and differentiation. This way, the scaffold can better resemble the extra cellular matrix (ECM) for the cells grow in. Very often, the scaffolds produced by researchers ended up in two-dimensional form without the required the porosity and depth needed for cell proliferation. Co-axial electrospinning is one of the methods to obtain a three-dimensional scaffold. In this study, the co-axial electrospinning parameters affecting the physical and chemical properties of the three-dimensional scaffold are investigated. Polycaprolactone (PCL) and gelatin are used in this study as the core and sheath layer respectively, with microbial-transglutaminase (MTG) as crosslinkers. Using MTG as crosslinkers can resolve many issues such as cytotoxicity. A set of optimised parameters were obtained for the co-axial electrospinning. Wet hydrogel scaffolds were created by the hydration of gelatin. The wet hydrogel of gelatin/PCL with MTG crosslinkers showed positive results for the preliminary cell study performed. These hydrogels showed good cell density and provides good promise for further research and future usage.