One-stop microfiber spinning and fabrication of a fibrous cell-encapsulated scaffold on a single microfluidic platform

• Published in: Biofabrication Vol. 6; no. 2; p. 024108
• Main Authors: Park, D Y, Mun, C H, Kang, E, No, D Y, Ju, J, Lee, S H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01-06-2014
• Subjects: Alginates - chemistry; Animals; Cell Survival; Cells, Cultured; Diffusion; Equipment Design; Glucuronic Acid - chemistry; Hepatocytes - cytology; Hexuronic Acids - chemistry; Male; Porosity; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Tissue Engineering - instrumentation; Tissue Engineering - methods; Tissue Scaffolds - chemistry
• ISSN: 1758-5090
• DOI: 10.1088/1758-5082/6/2/024108

This paper provides a method for microscale fiber spinning and the in situ construction of a 3D fibrous scaffold on a single microfluidic platform. This platform was also used to fabricate a variety of fibrous scaffolds with diverse compositions without the use of complicated devices. We explored the potential utility of the fibrous scaffolds for tissue engineering applications by constructing a fibrous scaffold encapsulating primary hepatocytes. The cells in scaffold were cultured over seven days and maintained higher viability comparing with 3D alginate non-fibrous block. The main advantage of this platform is that the fibrous structure used to form a scaffold can be generated without damaging the mechanically weak alginate fibers or encapsulated cells because all procedures are performed in a single platform without the intervention of the operator. In addition, the proposed fibrous scaffold permitted high diffusion capability of molecules, which enabled better viability of encapsulated cells than non-fibrous scaffold even in massive cell culture.