Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
weight-bearing tissue, such as articular cartilage that consists of
multiphasic cellular architecture, are significant.
39
There have been
a number of successful approaches to tissue engineer cartilage,
includingtheuseofnaturalandsyntheticbiomaterialscaffolds,allo-
geneic and autologous sources of mature chondrocytes and chon-
droprogenitor cells, chondroinductive growth factors, such as the
transforming growth factors-
s), and combinations thereof.
PCL-based nanofibrous scaffolds by electrospinning showed better
compatibility with fetal bovine chondrocytes (FBCs) and maintain
chondrocytesinamature,functionalstate.
40
Resultsfurtherdemon-
strated that FBCs seeded on PCL nanofibers were able to main-
tain their chondrocytic phenotype by expressing cartilage-specific
ECM genes such as aggrecan, collagen type II and IX, and carti-
lage oligomeric matrix protein.
40
FBCs exhibited a spindle or round
shape on the nanofibrous scaffold in contrast to a flat, well-spread
morphology, as seen when cultured on tissue culture polystyrene.
Another interesting finding from this study was that a serum-free
medium produced a more sulfated proteo-glycan-rich cartilaginous
matrix compared with the same cultured in a monolayer on tissue
culturepolystyrene.Theseresultsdemonstratedthatthebioactivity
of FBCs depends on the architecture of the scaffold and the compo-
sition of the culture medium. Hence, PCL nanofibers show potential
to befurther explored as scaffoldsfor cartilage tissueengineering.
β
(TGF-
β
12.3.8
Drug, DNA, Protein, and Enzyme Delivery
The utility of nanofibrous electrospun composite scaffolds has
greatly expanded over the last decade so that they now serve as
viable delivery vehicles for a host of different biomedical applica-
tions.Thematerialpropertiesofelectrospunscaffoldsareextremely
advantageous for biogenic molecule delivery, in which site speci-
ficity and lower overall medicinal dosages lead to a potential
industry-altering mechanism of delivering therapeutics. Different
biogenic molecules used to predominantly treat infections and can-
cerscaneasilybeincorporatedandreleasedattherapeuticdosages.
Further, the inherent high porosity of these electrospun scaffolds
allows for a more precisely controlled degradation, which is tun-
able by polymer composition and fiber morphology, leading to sus-
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