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Electrospun human hair keratin matrices provide a bioinductive and structural environment for cell growth and are thus attractive as alternative templates for tissue regeneration.

We report the establishment of a novel platform to induce myogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) via focal adhesion (FA) modulation, giving insights into the role of FA on stem cell differentiation. Micropatterning of collagen type I on a polyacrylamide gel with a stiffness of 10.2 kPa efficiently modulated elongated FA. This elongated FA profile preferentially recruited the b 3 integrin cluster and induced specific myogenic differentiation at both transcription and translation levels with expression of myosin heavy chain and a-sarcomeric actin. This was initiated with elongation of FA complexes that triggered the RhoA downstream signaling toward a myogenic lineage commitment. This study also illustrates how one could partially control myogenic differentiation outcomes of similar-shaped hMSCs by modulating FA morphology and distribution. This technology increases our toolkit choice for controlled differentiation in muscle engineering.

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Spontaneous tendon healing may result in reduced tissue functionality. In view of this, tissue engineering (TE) emerges as a promising approach in promoting proper tendon regeneration. However, unfavourable post‐surgical adhesion formations restrict adequate tendon healing through the TE approach. Naproxen sodium (NPS), a non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drug (NSAID), has been demonstrated to prevent adhesions by inhibiting the inflammatory response. Therefore, in this study, various factors, such as polymer composition, i.e. different poly‐l‐lactic acid (PLLA):polycaprolactone (PCL) ratios, and percentage of water:hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP; as co‐solvent) ratios, were investigated to understand how these can influence the release of NPS from electrospun scaffolds. By adjusting the amount of water as the co‐solvent, NPS could be released sustainably for as long as 2 weeks. Scaffold breaking strength was also enhanced with the addition of water as the co‐solvent. This NPS‐loaded scaffold showed no significant cytotoxicity, and L929 murine fibroblasts cultured on the scaffolds were able to proliferate and align along the fibre orientation. These scaffolds with desirable tendon TE characteristics would be promising candidates in achieving better tendon regeneration in vivo. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.