J Korean Orthop Res Soc.  2004 Apr;7(1):1-12.

Effects of Nanofiber Alignment and Strain Direction on Cellular Activities of Human ACL Fibroblasts

• Lee CH
• Shin HJ
• Cho IH
• Kang YM
• Kim IA
• Shin JW

Abstract

PURPOSE
The effects of fiber alignment and direction of mechanical strain on the ECM generation of human ACL fibroblast were assessed.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The aligned nanofiber was fabricated using electrospinning with a rotating target. The amounts of collagen on aligned and randomly oriented structures were compared. To evaluate the effect of strain direction, 5% uniaxial strain (0.2 Hz) was applied to fibroblasts seeded on parallel aligned, vertically aligned to the strain direction, and randomly oriented nanofiber sheets. The amounts of collagen produced were measured 2 days after halting the strain application.
RESULTS
The fibroblasts on the aligned nanofiber were spindle-shaped and oriented in the direction of the fibers. Significantly more collagen (22.5+/-2.7 ug/ngDNA) was synthesized on the aligned nanofiber than the randomly oriented (14.5+/-3.2 ug/ngDNA). And the amounts of collagen produced were increased by 150% and 50% approximately with the longitudinal and perpendicular cyclic strain, respectively.
CONCLUSION
The aligned nanofiber scaffold used in this study constitutes a promising base material for tissue-engineered ligament in that it provides a more biomimetic structure, including the preferable mechanical environment.

Keyword

Ligament tissue engineering; Aligned nanofiber; Biomimetic scaffold; Mechanical stimuli; Strain direction

MeSH Terms

Biomimetics
Collagen
Fibroblasts*
Humans*
Ligaments
Nanofibers*
Collagen