Microrobotically Fabricated Biological Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering

Abstract

A microrobotic method for fabricating multilayered poly(lactic acid) (PLA) biological scaffolds using micropipettes for tissue engineering applications is presented. Biological scaffolds are fabricated over several different substrates by drawing and solidification of a viscous liquid polymer solution pumped continuously through a glass micropipette. The proposed method produces highly aligned, multilayered, crisscrossed fiber scaffolds with user specified pore sizes and diameters in the range from 1 to 10 micrometer. Attachment, proliferation and differentiation of C2C12 mouse pluripotential cells seeded on individual, parallel, and intersecting fibers is successfully demonstrated. The proposed robotic methodology consistently provides parameterized biological scaffolds to aid studies in tissue engineering and to develop novel MEMS, filtration and controlled drug delivery devices