Biomimetic Hierarchically Arranged Nanofibrous Structures Resembling the Architecture and the Passive Mechanical Properties of Skeletal Muscles: A Step Forward Toward Artificial Muscle

Gotti, Carlo; Sensini, Alberto; Fornaia, Gianmaria; Gualandi, Chiara; Zucchelli, Andrea

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2020.00767

Cited by 34 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 81 publications

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“…Moreover, after the removal of the aligned mat from the drum or gap collectors, it is possible to observe a shrinkage of the nanofibers. This property allows to confer to these uniaxial mats the typical morphology and nonlinear mechanical properties of the muscle and T/L tissues ( Bosworth and Downes, 2011 ; Sensini and Cristofolini, 2018 ; Gotti et al, 2020a , b ).…”

Section: Electrospinningmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The main mechanical feature of natural tissues is their nonlinear properties (Fung, 1993;Murphy et al, 2016), which are strongly dependent on the degree of mineralization (Fung, 1993;Murphy et al, 2016). When a load is applied, the fibrils/myofibers are progressively stretched, from their resting crimped state up to the complete alignment in the linear region (Maganaris and Narici, 2005;Gotti et al, 2020a). Because of the mineral content, the bone behavior results more brittle and stiffer (Rho et al, 1998) compared with the muscle and T/L ones ( Table 1).…”

Section: Mechanical Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Tissue Engineering for the Insertions of Tendons and Ligaments: An Overview of Electrospun Biomaterials and Structures

Sensini

Massafra

Gotti

et al. 2021

Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.

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The musculoskeletal system is composed by hard and soft tissue. These tissues are characterized by a wide range of mechanical properties that cause a progressive transition from one to the other. These material gradients are mandatory to reduce stress concentrations at the junction site. Nature has answered to this topic developing optimized interfaces, which enable a physiological transmission of load in a wide area over the junction. The interfaces connecting tendons and ligaments to bones are called entheses, while the ones between tendons and muscles are named myotendinous junctions. Several injuries can affect muscles, bones, tendons, or ligaments, and they often occur at the junction sites. For this reason, the main aim of the innovative field of the interfacial tissue engineering is to produce scaffolds with biomaterial gradients and mechanical properties to guide the cell growth and differentiation. Among the several strategies explored to mimic these tissues, the electrospinning technique is one of the most promising, allowing to generate polymeric nanofibers similar to the musculoskeletal extracellular matrix. Thanks to its extreme versatility, electrospinning has allowed the production of sophisticated scaffolds suitable for the regeneration of both the entheses and the myotendinous junctions. The aim of this review is to analyze the most relevant studies that applied electrospinning to produce scaffolds for the regeneration of the enthesis and the myotendinous junction, giving a comprehensive overview on the progress made in the field, in particular focusing on the electrospinning strategies to produce these scaffolds and their mechanical, in vitro, and in vivo outcomes.

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Section: Electrospinningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Mechanical Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tissue Engineering for the Insertions of Tendons and Ligaments: An Overview of Electrospun Biomaterials and Structures

Sensini

Massafra

Gotti

et al. 2021

Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.

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“…This biomimetic mix between structure and mechanics makes this electrospun structure particularly suitable to mimic the tendon fascicles ( Bosworth et al, 2014 ; Pauly et al, 2016 ; Laranjeira et al, 2017 ; Sensini and Cristofolini, 2018 ; Sensini et al, 2019a ). All the different bundles showed a well-defined toe region, caused by the progressive recovery from the crimped state of the low friction nylon 6,6 nanofibers after the removal from the drum ( Gotti et al, 2020 ). The bundles also showed a progressive shift from a brittle (at 2,500 rpm bundles) to an increasingly ductile behavior (at 1,750 and 1,000 rpm) ( Figure 6 and Supplementary Material ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tuning the Structure of Nylon 6,6 Electrospun Bundles to Mimic the Mechanical Performance of Tendon Fascicles

Sensini

Santare

Eichenlaub

et al. 2021

Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.

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Tendon and ligament injuries are triggered by mechanical loading, but the specific mechanisms are not yet clearly identified. It is well established however, that the inflection and transition points in tendon stress-strain curves represent thresholds that may signal the onset of irreversible fibrillar sliding. This phenomenon often results in a progressive macroscopic failure of these tissues. With the aim to simulate and replace tendons, electrospinning has been demonstrated to be a suitable technology to produce nanofibers similar to the collagen fibrils in a mat form. These nanofibrous mats can be easily assembled in higher hierarchical levels to reproduce the whole tissue structure. Despite the fact that several groups have developed electrospun tendon-inspired structures, an investigation of the inflection and transition point mechanics is missing. Comparing their behavior with that of the natural counterpart is important to adequately replicate their behavior at physiological strain levels. To fill this gap, in this work fascicle-inspired electrospun nylon 6,6 bundles were produced with different collector peripheral speeds (i.e., 19.7 m s–1; 13.7 m s–1; 7.9 m s–1), obtaining different patterns of nanofibers alignment. The scanning electron microcopy revealed a fibril-inspired structure of the nanofibers with an orientation at the higher speed similar to those in tendons and ligaments (T/L). A tensile mechanical characterization was carried out showing an elastic-brittle biomimetic behavior for the higher speed bundles with a progressively more ductile behavior at slower speeds. Moreover, for each sample category the transition and the inflection points were defined to study how these points can shift with the nanofiber arrangement and to compare their values with those of tendons. The results of this study will be of extreme interest for the material scientists working in the field, to model and improve the design of their electrospun structures and scaffolds and enable building a new generation of artificial tendons and ligaments.

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“…Scaffolds obtained by electrospinning are very rigid (above 100 kPa) and thus not ideal for engineering a contractile tissue [94]. On the surface of electrospun scaffolds, synchronized beating cells have been demonstrated, but no true contractility has been observed following the development of force or the reversible shortening of the preparation (Figure 3, panel II) [95].…”

Section: Common Methods Used To Fabricate Solid 3d Scaffolds Including Those Used For Contractilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Possible Treatment of Myocardial Infarct Based on Tissue Engineering Using a Cellularized Solid Collagen Scaffold Functionalized with Arg-Glyc-Asp (RGD) Peptide

Schussler

Falcoz

Chachques

et al. 2021

IJMS

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Currently, the clinical impact of cell therapy after a myocardial infarction (MI) is limited by low cell engraftment due to low cell retention, cell death in inflammatory and poor angiogenic infarcted areas, secondary migration. Cells interact with their microenvironment through integrin mechanoreceptors that control their survival/apoptosis/differentiation/migration and proliferation. The association of cells with a three-dimensional material may be a way to improve interactions with their integrins, and thus outcomes, especially if preparations are epicardially applied. In this review, we will focus on the rationale for using collagen as a polymer backbone for tissue engineering of a contractile tissue. Contractilities are reported for natural but not synthetic polymers and for naturals only for: collagen/gelatin/decellularized-tissue/fibrin/Matrigel™ and for different material states: hydrogels/gels/solids. To achieve a thick/long-term contractile tissue and for cell transfer, solid porous compliant scaffolds are superior to hydrogels or gels. Classical methods to produce solid scaffolds: electrospinning/freeze-drying/3D-printing/solvent-casting and methods to reinforce and/or maintain scaffold properties by reticulations are reported. We also highlight the possibility of improving integrin interaction between cells and their associated collagen by its functionalizing with the RGD-peptide. Using a contractile patch that can be applied epicardially may be a way of improving ventricular remodeling and limiting secondary cell migration.

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Biomimetic Hierarchically Arranged Nanofibrous Structures Resembling the Architecture and the Passive Mechanical Properties of Skeletal Muscles: A Step Forward Toward Artificial Muscle

Cited by 34 publications

References 81 publications

Tissue Engineering for the Insertions of Tendons and Ligaments: An Overview of Electrospun Biomaterials and Structures

Tissue Engineering for the Insertions of Tendons and Ligaments: An Overview of Electrospun Biomaterials and Structures

Tuning the Structure of Nylon 6,6 Electrospun Bundles to Mimic the Mechanical Performance of Tendon Fascicles

Possible Treatment of Myocardial Infarct Based on Tissue Engineering Using a Cellularized Solid Collagen Scaffold Functionalized with Arg-Glyc-Asp (RGD) Peptide

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