High Strength and High Toughness Electrospun Multifibrillar Yarns with Highly Aligned Hierarchy Intended as Anisotropic Extracellular Matrix

Abstract

Electrospun nanofibers can be effectively used as a surrogate for extracellular matrices (ECMs). However, in the context of cellular mechanobiology, their mechanical performances can be enhanced by using nanofibrous materials with a high level of structural organization. Herein, this work develops multifibrillar yarns with superior mechanical performance based on biocompatible polyacrylonitrile (PAN) as surrogate ECM. Nearly perfect aligned nanofibers along with the axis of the multifibrillar yarn are prepared. These highly aligned yarns exhibit high strength, high toughness, good stress relaxation behavior, and are robust enough for technical or medical applications. Further, this work analyzes the influence of the highly aligned-hierarchical topological structure of the material on cell proliferation and cell orientation using cells derived from epithelial and connective tissues. Compared to nonoriented electrospun multifibrillar yarns and flat films, the well-ordered topology in the electrospun PAN multifibrillar yarns triggers an improved proliferation of fibroblasts and epithelial cells. Fibroblasts acquire an elongated morphology analogous to their behavior in the natural ECM. Hence, this heterogeneous multifibrillar material can be used to restore or reproduce the ECM for tissue engineering applications, notably in the skeletal muscle and tendon.