MELT-ELECTROWRITTEN HIGHLY TUNABLE ANISOTROPIC SCAFFOLDS FOR CARDIOVASCULAR TISSUE ENGINEERING

28 Jun 2022, 14:00
10m
Room: S4 A

Room: S4 A

Speaker

Mueller, Kilian (Chair of Medical Materials and Implants, Technical University of Munich )

Description

Introduction
Melt Electrowriting (MEW) is an versatile electric-field assisted fiber forming technique that has convincingly shown its potential for tissue engineering scaffolds both in vitro and in vivo. The additive manufacturing principle of MEW offers unparalleled possibilities to create precisley defined fibrous 3D architectures. The potential of design freedom with MEW is still largely unexplored. Here we present strategies for the automated design and digital fabrication of highly tunable ansisotropic scaffolds for in situ tissue engineering.
Methodology
We developed a MATLAB G-code design suite to automatically generate toolpath commands for the MEW setup. Scaffolds were fabricated from medical grade polycaprolactone (PCL). Their architecture and fiber diameter were assessed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Mechanical properties were determined by tensile testing, ingrowth of human umbilical artery smooth muscle cells was verified after 1 and 7 days of culture via SEM and (immuno)histology. Finally, the design strategies were validated for tubular constructs.
Results
All MEW scaffolds closely matched the coded designs. Highly tunable architectures were obtained, with fiber orientation and pattern strongly affecting the mechanical properties and anisotropy. Progressing cell ingrowth was verified in vitro after 1 and 7 days. Tubular scaffolds were exploited to show their potential for cardiovascular tissue engineering applications.
Conclusion(s)
This work further expands the capabilities of MEW towards the rational design and digital fabrication of fibrous scaffolds with controlled architectures and corresponding mechanical properties.

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