Fabrication and characterization of nanoscale-roughened PCL/collagen micro/nanofibers treated with plasma for tissue regeneration

A surface-modified electrospun poly(e-caprolactone) (PCL)/collagen fibrous mat was fabricated by simple coating and the selective plasma-treatment method using a template with 800 nm holes. A homogeneous nanoscale pattern (376 + 40 nm) was successfully obtained on the collagen region coated on the PCL micro/nanofibers. The mechanical and in vitro cellular activities (cell proliferation and osteogenic activities) were evaluated and compared with controls, including electrospun PCL fibers coated with the same collagen component, to characterize the effectiveness of the coated collagen component roughened with the nanoscale. Significant increases in cell viability of about 1.4-fold and calcium deposition of about 1.3-fold were observed on the plasma-etched PCL/collagen fibrous mats compared to those on the PCL/collagen fibrous mats. These results show that the newly designed fibrous biomedical scaffold can induce significant cellular activities at the interface between cells and the topological boundary with regenerating tissues.