Fabrication of Micro/Nanofibrous Scaffolds using a Robotic Manipulator and Their Application for Tissue Engineering

Abstract

Abstract Background: Nanofibrous materials currently find a wide range of medical and bioengineering applications including tissue-engineering scaffolds, sutures, and wound dressings. Recently, production of nanofibrous materials via Electrospinning has played a dominant role in this area. Here we introduce an alternative method, which we call the drawing method, which allows us to produce individual micro and nanofibers and to position them precisely into a two-dimensional network. Results: The creation of such nano or micro fibrous networks is enabled thanks to a special arm-like robotic manipulator that we have designed, including its control system software. In this work we produced and tested microfibrous scaffolds of precise geometry made of two different biodegradable polymers: Polycaprolactone and Polylactide – Polycaprolactone copolymer. The microfibrous networks produced thereby were analyzed using a scanning electronic microscope and tested in vitro for cell adhesion and proliferation. The crystallinity of the resulting manufactured polymeric structures was evaluated using differential scanning calorimetry. Conclusions: The mechanical drawing of individual microfibers presented in this article is a promising method to produce precisely oriented nano and microfibrous structures for technical as well as bioengineering applications. Our results indicate that the mechanical drawing of microfibers expands the possibilities for the preparation of tissue engineering scaffolds. Therefore, we believe that the range of applications of mechanical fiber drawing may soon expand.