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Ultrafine fibrous gelatin scaffolds with deep cell infiltration mimicking 3D ECMs for soft tissue repair

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Abstract

In this research, ultrafine fibrous scaffolds with deep cell infiltration and sufficient water stability have been developed from gelatin, aiming to mimic the extracellular matrices (ECMs) as three dimensional (3D) stromas for soft tissue repair. The ultrafine fibrous scaffolds produced from the current technologies of electrospinning and phase separation are either lack of 3D oriented fibrous structure or too compact to be penetrated by cells. Whilst electrospun scaffolds are able to emulate two dimensional (2D) ECMs, they cannot mimic the 3D ECM stroma. In this work, ultralow concentration phase separation (ULCPS) has been developed to fabricate gelatin scaffolds with 3D randomly oriented ultrafine fibers and loose structures. Besides, a non-toxic citric acid crosslinking system has been established for the ULCPS method. This system could endow the scaffolds with sufficient water stability, while maintain the fibrous structures of scaffolds. Comparing with electrospun scaffolds, the ULCPS scaffolds showed improved cytocompatibility and more importantly, cell infiltration. This research has proved the possibility of using gelatin ULCPS scaffolds as the substitutes of 3D ECMs.

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Acknowledgments

This research was financially supported by Agricultural Research Division at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USDA Hatch Act, Multistate Research Project S-1054 (NEB 37-037) and AATCC student research grant. The authors thank the Agricultural Research Division Advisory Committee and the Director of IAPC at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for the John and Louise Skala Fellowship to Qiuran Jiang and Helan Xu. The authors would also like to acknowledge Prof. Angela Pannier and Prof. Blair D.Siegfried for providing cells and equipment for this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 234, HECO Building, Lincoln, NE, 68583-0802, USA

    Qiuran Jiang, Helan Xu, Shaobo Cai & Yiqi Yang

  2. Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 234, HECO Building, Lincoln, NE, 68583-0802, USA

    Yiqi Yang

  3. Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 234, HECO Building, Lincoln, NE, 68583-0802, USA

    Yiqi Yang

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  1. Qiuran Jiang
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  2. Helan Xu
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  3. Shaobo Cai
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  4. Yiqi Yang
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Correspondence to Yiqi Yang.

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Jiang, Q., Xu, H., Cai, S. et al. Ultrafine fibrous gelatin scaffolds with deep cell infiltration mimicking 3D ECMs for soft tissue repair. J Mater Sci: Mater Med 25, 1789–1800 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10856-014-5208-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10856-014-5208-2

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