Fabrication of transparent hemispherical 3D nanofibrous scaffolds with radially aligned patterns via a novel electrospinning method

Abstract

Tissue engineering has significantly contributed to the development of optimal treatments for individual injury sites based on their unique functional and histologic properties. Human organs and tissue have three-dimensional (3D) morphologies; for example, the morphology of the eye is a spherical shape. However, most conventional electrospinning equipment is only capable of fabricating a two-dimensional (2D) structured fibrous scaffold and no report is available on a 3D electrospinning method to fabricate a hemispherical scaffold to mimic the native properties of the cornea, including microscopic to macroscopic morphology and transparency. We proposed a novel electrospinning method using a single nonconductive hemispherical device and a metal pin. A designed peg-top shaped collector, a hemispherical nonconductive device with a metal pin in the center and copper wire forming a circle around at the edge was attached to a conventional conductive collector. A 3D hemispherical transparent scaffold with radially aligned nanofibers was successfully fabricated with the designed peg-top collector. In summary, our fabricated 3D electrospun scaffold is expected to be suitable for the treatment of injuries of ocular tissues owing to the hemispherical shape and radially aligned nanofibers which can guide the direction of the main collagen and cellular actin filament in the extracellular matrix.