Fabrication and Characterization of Polycaprolactone Micro and Nanofibers for Vascular Tissue Replacement

In the present study, 2D micro- and nanofibrous polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffolds were fabricated using the electrospinning technique. The thermal, microstructure and mechanical properties of the fabricated micro- and nanofibrous scaffolds were assessed using structural/phase, elemental, morphological characterizations and micro-universal testing machines. Finally, scaffolds were seeded with fibroblasts to evaluate biological properties and to demonstrate tissue growth. In addition, the toxicity of PCL scaffold on hFFs cells was explored with Live/Dead staining. The morphological characterization of PCL scaffolds showed highly aligned micro- and nanofibrous morphology with porosity reaches to 66% and uniform diameter ranges from 200 nm to 1.4 mu m depending on PCL concentration, solvent and applied voltage. The FTIR results indicated that the micro/nanofibers are almost the same for bulk PCL. The DSC results confirmed the semi-crystalline nature of PCL with crystallinity and temperature melting of microfibrous scaffold higher than that of the nanofibrous ones. The Thermogravimetric analysis showed that the PCL micro- and nanofibers have a single stage thermal degradation with higher decomposition temperature of microfibrous PCL scaffolds compared to the nanofibrous one. The mechanical test results indicated that the microfibrous scaffolds have an acceptable mechanical behavior for cell culture technology. Finally, the cell culture results showed that the cells are not only attached to the scaffold but also integrated with it; the cells are imbedded into the PCL scaffold, which is the ultimate goal of using these kinds of materials for tissue engineering.