Fabrication of polymer fiber scaffolds by centrifugal spinning for cell culture studies

We demonstrate a mass production amenable technology for the fabrication of polymer fibers that can be used as 3D scaffolds for cell culture and tissue engineering. As the first attempt, we used centrifugal melt spinning technique to fabricate fiber matrix of poly-lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) which is a well-known biodegradable co-polymer. We then developed a solvent assisted centrifugal spinning technique to produce fiber matrix of polystyrene (PS) which has a relative high glass transition temperature comparing to that of PLGA. Both melt spinning and solvent assisted spinning techniques were studied with two types of commercial cotton-candy machines. Finally, the fabricated fibers were used as scaffolds for cell culture, showing application potentials for large volume cell proliferation. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.