Fibroblast Growth on Nanofiber Material Matrices and Changes to Their Mechanical Properties

Abstract—Polycaprolactone (PCL) and gelatin electrospun nanofiber matrices are very promising for heart valve tissue engineering. The main aim of this study was to test the growth capability of fibroblasts on these materials and to determine their effect on the mechanical properties of the tested materials. Matrices from PCL and gelatin were placed in standard 8-well culture plates and cultured for six weeks with COS-7 cells. Viability of cells was assessed by acridine orange and ethidium bromide staining. Mechanical properties were compared before and after culture with COS-7 using uniaxile tensile tests. In tested conditions proportion of viable cells after 6 weeks of culture constituted ~90%, with no significant differences between materials and samples. Significant reduction in maximum stress was seen for PCL, from 0.49±0.01MPa to 0.37±0.03MPa (p<0.05). Deformability of gelatin increased from 87.2±13.8% to 157.1±15.2% (p<0.05) after 6 weeks in culture. Modulus of elasticity did not change significantly for both tested materials. We conclude that both materials are suitable for tissue engineering purposes due to their biocompatibility, but the rather prominent changes in mechanical features of gelatin raise some doubts about its use as stand-alone scaffold material.

Index Terms—Fibroblasts, heart valve, nanofibers, tissue engineering.

P. Stradins and M. Kalejs were with Augusts Kirhensteins Institute of Microbiology and Virology, Ratsupites str. 5, Riga, Latvia and still are with Department of Cardiac Surgery, Pauls Stradins Clinical University Hospital, Pilsonu str. 13, Riga, Latvia (e-mail: peteris.stradins@stradini.lv, martins.kalejs@stradini.lv). V. Priedite, R. Lacis, I. Ozolanta, M. Murovska, and V. Kasyanov are with Augusts Kirhensteins Institute of Microbiology and Virology, Ratsupites str. 5, Riga, Latvia (e-mail: teirpriedite@gmail.com, modra.murovska@rsu.lv, valentina@stradini.lv, Kasyanov@latnet.lv).

[PDF]

Cite:Peteris Stradins, Martins Kalejs, Viktorija Priedite, Romans Lacis, Iveta Ozolanta, Modra Murovska, and Vladimir Kasyanov, "Fibroblast Growth on Nanofiber Material Matrices and Changes to Their Mechanical Properties," International Journal of Materials, Mechanics and Manufacturing vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 328-331, 2013.