Biomimetic Materials for Engineering Stem Cells and Tissues - Biomimetics: Advancing Nanobiomaterials and Tissue Engineering - page 332

developed an engineered heart tissue (EHT) which was a highly differen-
tiated and strongly contracting construct of a mixture of type I collagen,
other ECM proteins and freshly isolated heart cells. EHT simulated the
contractions of heart when tested using a stretching device [37].
In the case of nerve grafts, failure of autologous graft and their inabil-
ity to bridge gaps greater than 10 mm, calls for the design of biomimetic
neural scaffolds to repair damage to the peripheral nervous system. This
involves fabricating biomimetic scaffolds that provide biological cues for
the specifi c interactions with neural tissues [38]. Prabhakaran et al. fabricated
poly(l-lactic acid)-co-poly-(3-caprolactone)/Collagen (PLCL/Coll) nano-
fi ber scaffolds by electrospinning [39]. These scaffolds demonstrated the
ability to aid in the differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells
into neuronal cells when cultured in the presence of neuronal inducing fac-
tors like nerve growth factor and epidermal growth factor as in Figure 14.5.
The cultured cells showed multipolar elongations similar to neuronal mor-
phology and this was confi rmed by immuno-fl uorescent microscopy.
Uebersax et al. have fabricated silk fi broin scaffold that was designed to
guide differentiation of hMSC into trabecular- or cortical-like mineralized
networks [40]. Grayson et al. showed that fully decellularized bone pro-
vided biomimetic topography, composition, and mechanical properties for
osteogenic differentiation of hMSC [41]. In another study, as a biomimetic
approach to mimic interface tissue, Ramalingam et al. developed gradi-
ents of amorphous calcium phosphate nanoparticles (nACP) in electros-
pun PCL nanofi bers. The authors cultured osteogenic cells on this scaffold
and proved that the gradients in the biomimetic scaffold facilitated the
cultured cells to adhere and proliferate as in the biological system [42].
Oliveira et al. fabricated hydroxyapatite/chitosan (HA/CS) bilayered
scaffolds to study the proliferation of goat marrow stromal cells (GBMCs)

( a )

( b )

Figure 14.5 SEM images of (a) MSCs induced to neuronal cells, grown using
neuronal induction media and (b) undifferentiated MSCs on electrospun PLCL/
Coll nanofi bers grown using MSC growth media. Reprinted with permission
from ref. [39]. Copyright (2009) Elsevier [39].