Electrospun PGS:PCL microfibers align human valvular interstitial cells and provide tunable scaffold anisotropy.

ABSTRACT: Tissue engineered heart valves (TEHV) can be useful in the repair of congenital or acquired valvular diseases due to their potential for growth and remodeling. The development of biomimetic scaffolds is a major challenge in heart valve tissue engineering. One of the most important structural characteristics of mature heart valve leaflets is their intrinsic anisotropy, which is derived from the microstructure of aligned collagen fibers in the extracellular matrix (ECM). In the present study, a directional electrospinning technique is used to fabricate fibrous poly(glycerol sebacate):poly(caprolactone) (PGS:PCL) scaffolds containing aligned fibers, which resemble native heart valve leaflet ECM networks. In addition, the anisotropic mechanical characteristics of fabricated scaffolds are tuned

SUBMITTER: Masoumi N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4053480 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature