Orientated and diameter-controlled fibrous scaffolds fabricated using the centrifugal electrospinning technique for stimulating the behaviours of fibroblast cells

Abstract

Centrifugal electrospinning (CES) was developed by integrating the electrospinning (ES) and centrifugal spinning (CS) concepts to produce oriented and diameter-controlled fibrous scaffolds which were then applied to stimulate the behaviour of fibroblast cells. During the fabrication process, polymer concentrations, rotational speeds, operating voltages, and needle sizes were key parameters to affect the diameters of produced fibres. The mathematical model indicated that the centrifugal force with the power of 2 was the main influence in fabricating thinner fibres, followed by electrostatic force with the power of 1. The developed CES technique could fabricate fibres scaffold ranging from 210 ± 50 nm to 2814 ± 96 nm by only applying low operating voltages and rotation speed which were 10 kV and up to 2000 rpm, respectively. Through optimum parameter, random and aligned nanofibrous were fabricated with the diameter being distributed mainly at 200–400 nm. Aligned nanofibrous demonstrated a high degree of orientation when 88% of the nanofibrous varied at 0°–10°. Compared to random structure, aligned nanofibrous presented high tensile strength, which was approximately 4.35 MPa and appropriate flexibility with 73% of elongation break. Aligned nanofibrous exhibited high cell viabilities with a 2.34 absorbance rate at day 14. The fibroblast cells elongated and accelerated in the orientation of the aligned nanofibrous. Results suggest that fibre aligned scaffolds are possible candidates for wound dressing application.

Micropatterned Fibrous Scaffold Produced by Using Template-Assisted Electrospinning Technique for Wound Healing Application

“…Similarly, the structural scaffold consisted of fibers with diameters ranging between 100 nm to 700 nm. This is expected from electrospinning approach, where the nanofiber produced in a wide range of nanoscale and less uniformity [ 3 ]. The structural scaffold consists of 57% nanofibers distributed at 70–100° angle intervals respective to the pattern direction.…”

“…The mechanical properties of fabricated PCL scaffolds were determined by analyzing the data obtained from testing. From the analysis, 2D scaffolds presented consistent mechanical properties in terms of tensile strength, tensile strain and Young’s modulus as shown in Table 1 , irrespective of orientation [ 3 ]. The mechanical properties of the structural scaffolds also demonstrated a similar trend to the 2D scaffold, wherein there was no difference regardless of orientation.…”

“…Electrospinning is an efficient fabrication technique used to produce continuous micro- to nanoscale fibers from various natural and synthetic polymer solutions. As the name implies, the driving force of this technique is electrostatic repulsion, wherein a pendant drop of polymer at the tip of a needle is highly electrified by employing the strong electrostatic force between the needle tip and the collector [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. When the electrostatic repulsion force is exerted and overcomes the surface tension of the polymer solution, the polymer solution is discharged from the needle tip.…”

“…This is mainly due to their dimensions being comparable to the native extracellular matrix (ECM) and being excellent substrates that support cell adhesion and proliferation [ 6 ]. However, fibers produced by conventional electrospinning are non-woven and randomly oriented, which is different from the topographical ECM [ 3 , 7 ]. It is known that specific topographies can enhance the biological response; hence, there is significant interest in controlling the spatial arrangement of electrospun fibers to produce patterned structures [ 4 , 7 , 8 ].…”

“…They can be collected as aligned oriented fibers by using modified collectors of different forms and arrangements, such as rotating drums [ 13 ], separate electrodes and metal rings [ 14 , 15 ], or using external electric and magnetic fields [ 8 , 16 ]. Aligned nanofibers can provide contact guidance for the cells, resulting in elongation, cells being aligned along the axes of fibers and faster migration compared to a random orientation [ 3 , 7 , 17 ]. On top of that, template collectors such as grid-like structures, woven wire mesh and regular hexagons have been used to produce different pattern designs [ 9 , 10 , 11 ].…”