In vitro co-culture of epithelial cells and smooth muscle cells on aligned nanofibrous scaffolds

Esophagus is a complex, hollow organ consisting of epithelial cells in the inner mucosal layer and smooth muscle cells in the outer muscle layer. In the present study, we have evaluated the in vitro co-culture of epithelial cells and smooth muscle cells on the aligned nanofibrous scaffold made of PHBV, PHBV-gelatin, PCL and PCL-gelatin developed through electrospinning using rotating drum collector. Epithelial cells were labeled with cell tracker green while the smooth muscle cells were labeled with cell tracker red. Labeled cells were seeded on the aligned nanofibers matrices and tracked using laser scanning confocal microscopy. The results demonstrate that both epithelial and smooth muscle cells attach, extend, and proliferate over these nanofibrous matrices. Confocal z-sectioning shows that epithelial and smooth muscle cells tend to separate into two distinct layers on a single nanofiber system mimicking the in vivo anatomy. Cell viability assay showed that both types of cells are viable and also interact with each other. The functional gene expression of respective cell types demonstrates that both epithelial and smooth muscle cells are phenotypically as well as functionally active when they were co-cultured. Thus the study highlighted that aligned nanofibrous scaffolds could be potential alternative graft for esophageal tissue regeneration.