NUI Galway – UL Alliance First Annual ENGINEERING AND - ARAN ...

Topographical Cues - Controlling Cellular Behavior
Andrew English 1 , Niall Rooney 2 , Abhay Pandit 1 and Dimitrios Zeugolis 1
1 Network of Excellence for Functional Biomaterials, National University of Ireland, Galway,
Ireland
2 Proxy Biomedical, Galway, Ireland, a.english1@nuigalway.ie
Abstract
The widespread interest in employing tissueengineered
scaffolds as therapies is based on their
capability to mimic native extra cellular matrix (ECM)
architectures. These scaffolds should support cellular
attachment, proliferation and directional growth in
order to promote functional neotissue formation [1].
Electrospinning has been recently introduced as a
simple and versatile polymer processing method to
produce sub-micron fibrous constructs with biophysical
properties comparable to native ECM assemblies [2].
1. Introduction
Herein, we fabricated electro-spun mats with
different topographies (non-aligned, aligned and
porous) and evaluated the influence of topography on
cell attachment, alignment and proliferation. Our data
indicate that the different topographies did not affect
cell viability (p>0.05), micro-machining resulted in
decreased cell attachment and only aligned fibres
facilitated directional cell migration.
2. Materials and Methods
Non-aligned and aligned electro-spun polymeric
mats were fabricated as has been described previously
[3]. The fibres were collected either on a static drum
(non-aligned mats – Figure 1a) or on a rotating drum
(aligned mats – Figure 2a). Non-aligned and aligned
mats were further processed to create porosity (1c and
2c respectively). Following that, all scaffolds were
seeded with SAOS-2 for 14 days. Immunofluorescence
images of the nuclei on the scaffold were used to
quantify the effect of the topography on the scaffold.
3. Results
In this study, the influence of nano-topography on
cellular behaviour was evaluated. Figure 1 shows
scanning electron micrographs of (a) solvent casted
films; (b) non-aligned electro-spun nano-fibrous mats;
and (c) aligned electro-spun nano-fibrous mats. (d), (e)
and (f) represent laser lithography treated (a), (b) and
(c) samples respectively.
Figure 2illustrates that not aligned (b) and aligned
(c) electro-spun nano-fibrous mats provided a
conducive environment for bone-like cell attachment.
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However, only aligned electro-spun nano-fibrous mats
(c) facilitated cell alignment in the direction of the
nano-fibrous substrate (a to f as Figure 1). Similarly to
aligned electro-spun nano-fibrous mats, nano-imprinted
scaffolds facilitated cell attachment and alignment
(results not shown).
Figure 3 shows cell metabolic activity assay results
for SAOS2 seeded on aligned and non-aligned electrospun
mats and tissue culture plastic for 14 days.
Electro-spun mats demonstrated significantly decreased
(p