Issue 32, 2019

Electrohydrodynamic 3D printing of layer-specifically oriented, multiscale conductive scaffolds for cardiac tissue engineering

Abstract

Mimicking the hierarchical microarchitecture of native myocardium in vitro plays an important role in cardiac tissue engineering. Here we present a novel strategy to produce multiscale conductive scaffolds with layer-specific fiber orientations for cardiac regeneration by combining solution-based and melt-based electrohydrodynamic (EHD) printing techniques. Polycaprolactone (PCL) microfibers were printed by melt-based EHD printing and the fiber orientation was flexibly controlled in a layer-by-layer manner according to user-specific design. The as-printed microfibrous scaffolds can provide the seeded cells necessary contact cues to guide layer-specific cellular alignments. Sub-microscale conductive fibers were simultaneously incorporated inside the well-organized PCL scaffolds by solution-based EHD printing, which significantly improved the conductivity as well as the cellular adhesion and proliferation capacity. The multiscale conductive scaffolds can further direct the multiple-layer alignments of primary cardiomyocytes and facilitate cardiomyocyte-specific gene expressions, which exhibited enhanced synchronous beating behavior compared with pure microfibrous scaffolds. It is envisioned that the proposed hybrid EHD printing technique might provide a promising strategy to fabricate multifunctional micro/nanofibrous scaffolds with biomimetic architectures, electrical conductivity and even biosensing properties for the regeneration of electroactive tissues.

Graphical abstract: Electrohydrodynamic 3D printing of layer-specifically oriented, multiscale conductive scaffolds for cardiac tissue engineering

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
12 Jun 2019
Accepted
22 Jul 2019
First published
23 Jul 2019

Nanoscale, 2019,11, 15195-15205

Electrohydrodynamic 3D printing of layer-specifically oriented, multiscale conductive scaffolds for cardiac tissue engineering

Q. Lei, J. He and D. Li, Nanoscale, 2019, 11, 15195 DOI: 10.1039/C9NR04989D

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements