Biocompatibility and biodegradation properties of polycaprolactone/polydioxanone composite scaffolds prepared by blend or co-electrospinning

Abstract

Electrospun polymer scaffolds are regarded as an ideal tissue engineering scaffold due to similar morphological properties with the native extracellular matrix. Among these, polycaprolactone is widely used to fabricate electrospun fibrous scaffolds due to its excellent biocompatibility, good mechanical properties, and ease of manufacture. However, its low biodegradation rate has a negative influence on its application in tissue engineering scaffold. To address this issue, this study prepared hybrid scaffolds composed of polycaprolactone and polydioxanone (a fast-degrading polyether-ester) via either the blend or co-electrospinning. Subsequently, the structural characteristics, mechanical strength, in vitro/vivo degradation, cellularization, and vascularization of two kinds of hybrid scaffolds were evaluated to decide which method is more suitable for producing tissue engineering scaffolds. The incorporation of polydioxanone increased the mechanical strength of both composite scaffolds. Moreover, co-electrospun scaffolds exhibited improved hydrophilicity compared to blend scaffolds. The results of in vitro and in vivo degradation studies showed that the degradation rate of both composite scaffolds was faster than that of neat polycaprolactone scaffolds due to the incorporated polydioxanone component. Especially in co-electrospun scaffolds, the fast degradation of polydioxanone fiber gave rise to larger pore size, thus leading to faster cellularization and better vascularization compared to blend scaffolds. Therefore, co-electrospinning was demonstrated to be superior to blend electrospinning for the preparation of composite scaffolds. Co-electrospun polycaprolactone–polydioxanone scaffolds may be promising candidates for tissue engineering.

Endoscopically Applied Biodegradable Stent in a Rabbit Model of Pediatric Tracheomalacia

“…Polydioxanone (PDO) is widely used for clinical bioabsorbable sutures because its biocompatibility enables cell adhesion and infiltration [15][16][17][18]. PDO monofilaments have been used to create a mesh-type stent [19], which has been employed in pediatric patients with airway problems.…”

Electrospinning of nanofibers: Potentials and perspectives for active food packaging

“…However, it is a challenge for blending electrospinning of two polymers with low compatibility. Thus, co‐electrospinning is considered as an alternative technique, which employs multiple spinnerets in the electrospinning setup and allows the fibers simultaneously deposited onto the same collector (Figure 3j) (Zhou et al., ). Zander, Orlicki, Rawlett, and Beebe () produced the bicomponent fiber mats by co‐electrospinning of PCL with PEO, and found that the porosity of the fiber mats could be tailored by the amount of PEO, and the nanoscale size and high surface area of the PCL electrospun fibers were not affected by the varied porosity.…”

Biodegradable and Biocompatible Graphene-based Scaffolds for Functional Neural Tissue Engineering: A Strategy Approach Using Dental Pulp Stem Cells and Biomaterials

“…The in vitro biodegradation study aims to investigate the biodegradation rate of prepared scaffolds [35]. Briefly, each scaffold (n = 3) with known weight (W 0 ) was incubated at 37degC in alpha-MEM culture media containing 1% (v/v) penicillin/streptomycin to prevent bacterial growth.…”

“…Details on the physicochemical characterization of the GO powder used as well as of the obtained rGO scaffolds were published elsewhere. [ 35 ] Numerous studies showed that coating reagents such as poly-l-lysine (PLL) and laminin (LAM) on the surface of the scaffolds induce signals regulating cell responses, adhesion and growth [19]. However, it is interesting to point out that various coating reagents have different impacts on cellular behaviour according to scaffold biomaterial and cell type [20].…”