Automated manufacturing of three-dimensional cell matrices with nanofibres of controlled alignment and uniform cell distribution

Abstract

This invention relates to a system and a process for the automated manufacture of three-dimensional cell matrices by electrospinning from nanofibres of controlled alignment and uniform cell distribution throughout their thickness. From the implementation of the invention it is possible to obtain, in a totally automatic way and without manual intervention, three-dimensional cell matrices of aligned polymeric fibres, with a uniform cell distribution, throughout the thickness of the matrix, which may present several patterns of alignment of the nanofibres, throughout the thickness, being the cells of the selected tissues seeded, in an alternated way, over the layers of two-dimensional meshes of nanofibres, deposited throughout the thickness, thus making the matrix thickness to be dependent of the number of layers of deposited fibres, of the thickness of the fibres and of the degree of compaction between layers. In this way, the present invention has many applications in various areas, in the manufacture of products or structures, on a nanometric scale, which depend on high surface area, such as in biotechnology, in the pharmaceutical and in tissue engineering areas, in particular in regenerative medicine.