The common retinal diseases are age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinitis pigmentosa (RP). They are usually associated with the dysfunction of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells and degeneration of underlying Bruch’s membrane. The RPE cell transplantation is the most promising therapeutic option to restore lost vision. This study aimed to construct an ultrathin porous fibrous film with properties similar to that of native Bruch’s membrane as carriers for the RPE cells. Human amniotic membrane powder (HAMP)/Polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffolds containing different concentrations of HAMP were fabricated by electrospinning technique. The results showed that with increasing the concentration of HAMP, the diameter of fibers increased. Moreover, hydrophilicity and degradation rate were improved from 119° to 92° and 14 to 56% after 28 days immersion in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) solution, respectively. All scaffolds had a porosity above 85%. Proper cell adhesion was obtained one day after culture and no toxicity was observed. However, after seven days, the rate of growth and proliferation of ARPE-19 cells, a culture model of RPE, on the PCL-30HAMP scaffold (HAMP concentration in PCL 7.2% by weight) was higher compared to other scaffolds. These results indicated that PCL-30HAMP fibrous scaffold has a great potential to be used in retinal tissue engineering applications.

One promising treatment for degenerative retinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the delivery of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells using degradable scaffolds. Tough-aligned scaffolds are promising candidates for some applications of tissue engineering, such as peripheral nerve regeneration. However, aligned scaffolds have not been investigated in retinal tissue engineering so far. Here, a comparison was made between aligned and random scaffolds fabricated from polycaprolactone (PCL) and human amniotic membrane powder (HAMP) as a scaffold for RPE cells. The effects of alignment on mechanical properties, porosity, hydrophilicity, degradation of the scaffolds, and the cellular interaction of RPE cells were investigated. The results revealed that the aligned scaffold has a lower average fiber diameter, porosity, hydrophilicity, and Young’s modulus and also a higher maximum strain in failure compared with the random scaffold. However, the proliferation of RPE cells increased on the random scaffold compared to the aligned scaffold. Hence, the rest of the specialized cellular evaluations, such as immunohistochemistry, real-time PCR, and functional assessments were performed on random scaffolds. The seeded cells showed an expression of RPE signature genes and functionally secreted VEGF and PEDF. Therefore, a HAMP-based substrate was fabricated for potential use as a scaffold for RPE cell transplantation.