GUIDANCE OF CELL ADHESION,ALIGNMENT, INFILTRATION, AND DIFFERENTIATION ON ELECTROSPUN NANOFIBROUS SCAFFOLDS - Intelligent Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine - page 209

Figure 10.5. F-actin of human skeletal muscle cells (hSkMCs) on electro-
spun PCL/collagen nanofiber meshes: (A) culture dish, (B) randomly ori-
ented, and (C) aligned electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds ( × 40 magnifica-
tion).Laserconfocal microscopyimagesofF-actinofhSkMCsseededonthe
(D) randomly oriented and (E) aligned scaffolds ( 600 magnification). 22 ×

See also Color Insert.

therandomlyorientedscaffolds,whichsupportsthehypothesisthat
aligned nanofibers promote myotube formation. 22 These findings
indicate that electrospun aligned nanofibrous scaffolds are able to
guide and orient skeletal muscle cells into organized structures
that closely mimic native tissues. The aligned nanofibrous scaffolds
are able to promote skeletal muscle morphogenesis into parallel-
oriented myotubes. The use of aligned nanofibrous scaffolds seeded
with skeletal muscle cells may provide implantable functional mus-
cle tissues forpatients with large muscle defects.
Inneuraltissueengineering,guidanceofaxonalgrowthisimpor-
tant to facilitate axonal regeneration through injured environments
in the central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nervous system
(PNS). The longitudinal distribution of axons in both the CNS and
the PNS makes it essential to design scaffolds that can guide regen-
erating axons along their natural axis of growth. Experiments using
dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons seeded onto electrospun fibers
have demonstrated the ability of aligned fibers to facilitate
directed neurite outgrowth in comparison to randomly ori-
ented fibers. 29 Rat hippocampal progenitor cells cultured on
grooved substrates demonstrate increased cell alignment and neu-
ronal differentiation. 30 , 31 Further, aligned electrospun fibers have
shown promise in fostering robust regeneration in vivo within a
rat peripheral nerve injury model. 32 Therefore, manipulation of
electrospinning parameters is crucial to produce highly aligned
fibers that facilitate nerve regeneration through an injury site as
quickly and ase ciently as possible.