Chondrocytes electrospraying: parameters optimization towards in situ cell laden scaffolds design

Abstract

Cartilage tissue engineering (TE) is offering suitable therapeutic solutions for articular cartilage degenerative diseases, such as osteoarthritis, a big problem in contemporary society. TE is able to combine biomaterials and cells to create biomimetic scaffolds, that can mimic the depth dependent nanostructural organization of the fibrous collagen network of the native articular cartilage. This work uses the cell electrospinning technique, a recently discovered technique that could combine the electrospinning of a polymer with the electrospinning/electrospraying of cells. The objective was to find the optimal operational parameters for cell electrospraying a concentrated cell suspension of chondrocytes, that could be then coupled with concurrent electrospinning of a biopolymer. The results showed to be promising, indicating that the chondrocyte cells were resisting the electrospraying conditions and that were able to be cultured after the process