Electrospray deposition and direct patterning of polylactic acid nanofibrous microcapsules for tissue engineering

Electrospun nanofibers composed of biodegradable polymers are attractive candidates for cell culture scaffolds in tissue engineering. Their fine-meshed structures, resembling natural extracellular matrices, effectively interact with cell surfaces and promote cell proliferation. The application of electrospinning, however, is limited to two-dimensional (2D) or single tube-like scaffolds, and the fabrication of arbitrary three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds from electrospun nanofibers is still very difficult due to the fibers’ continuous and entangled form. To address this issue, in this paper, we describe the use of phase-separation-assisted electrospray and electrostatic focusing to perform continuous direct 3D patterning of nanofibrous microcapsules of biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA). These microcapsules exhibit fiber-particle duality because they are composed of nanofibers suitable for cell attachment while also being easy to handle as particles for direct 3D patterning. By varying the flow rate of the polymer solution and the humidity of the electrospray atmosphere during electrospraying, the diameter of the microcapsule and its surface porosity can be controlled. The utility of the direct-patterning process is demonstrated by fabricating high-aspect-ratio microscaffolds and subsequent cell cultures. The nanofibrous and hollow structure of the microcapsules combined with the direct 3D patterning process offers a new approach for fabricating tailor-made scaffolds for regenerative medicine. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10544-011-9583-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.