Automated fabrication of 3D chondrocyte-laden anisotropic scaffolds for articular cartilage

Abstract

Tissue engineering (TE) strategies for repairing and regenerating articular car-tilage face critical challenges to approximate the biochemical and biomechanical microen-vironment of native tissue, particularly regarding collagen fibril depth-orientation and chondrocyte distribution. Here, a recently developed electromechanically 3D electrospin-ning platform was employed to develop three-dimensional (3D) anisotropic electrospun scaffolds in a fully automated manner with simultaneous chondrocyte incorporation. As expected, the 3D scaffolds possessed an arcade-like fibrous configuration with a uniform chondrocyte distribution. Overall, the results suggest that this combined approach has potential for cartilage TE.