Generating nanotopography on PCL microfiber surface for better cell-scaffold interactions

To understand the behavior of cells in natural environment, 3D scaffolds are needed to provide biomimetic environment for routine cell growth in vitro. Electrohydrodynamic jet (EHDJ) printing, one of the emerging 3D printing techniques, is capable of fabricating 3D scaffolds with oriented fibers and customized microscale structures. However, most of the EHDJ-printed scaffolds lack of hierarchical structures such as nanotopographies present in native tissues. In this study, we propose a novel approach that combine EHDJ printing of poly(e-caprolactone) (PCL)/gliadin composite inks to produce scaffolds with oriented microfibers. The nanoscale pores and flaws (fiber nanotopography) could be generated on the printed fibers by simply leaching the gliadin phase from the printed PCL/gliadin scaffolds. The density and size of nanotopographical features could be controlled by adjusting the gliadin ratio. Furthermore, by seeding mouse embryonic fibroblasts (NIH/3T3) cells, it clearly manifested that such scaffolds are favorable to cell adhesion, migration and proliferation efficiently. Thus, the newly designed PCL scaffolds with both micro- and nano-scale topographies can be a promising 3D cell culture platform with improved cell-scaffold interactions.