Electrospinning of novel biodegradable poly(ester urethane)s and poly(ester urethane urea)s for soft tissue-engineering applications

The development of biomimetic highly-porous scaffolds is essential for successful tissue engineering. Segmented poly(ester urethane)s and poly(ester urethane urea)s have been infrequently used for the fabrication of electrospun nanofibrous tissues, which is surprising because these polymers represent a very large variety of materials with tailored properties. This study reports the preparation of new electrospun elastomeric polyurethane scaffolds. Two novel segmented polyurethanes (SPU), synthesized from poly(epsilon-caprolactone) diol, 1,6-hexamethylene diisocyanate, and diester-diphenol or diurea-diol chain extenders, were used (Caracciolo et al. in J Mater Sci Mater Med 20:145-155, 2009). The spinnability and the morphology of the electrospun SPU scaffolds were investigated and discussed. The electrospinning parameters such as solution properties (polymer concentration and solvent) and processing parameters (applied electric field, needle to collector distance and solution flow rate) were optimized to achieve smooth, uniform bead-free fibers with diameter (similar to 700 nm) mimicking the protein fibers of native extracellular matrix (ECM). The obtained elastomeric polyurethane scaffolds could be appropriate for soft tissue-engineering applications.