Adipose-derived stem cells could sense the nano-scale cues as myogenic-differentiating factors

Microenvironmental cues, such as surface topography and substrate stiffness, may affect stem cells adhesion, morphology, alignment, proliferation and differentiation. Adipose derived stem cells (ASCs) have attracted considerable interest in regenerative medicine due to their easy isolation, extensive in vitro expandability and ability to differentiate along a number of different tissue-specific lineages. The aim of this work was to investigate ASCs adhesion, alignment and differentiation into myogenic lineage on nanofibrous polymeric scaffolds with anisotropic topography. Nanostructured scaffolds with randomized or parallel fibers were fabricated by electrospinning using polycaprolactone (PCL) and the polycarbonate-urethane ChronoFlex AL 80A (CFAL). Cells expressed myosin (fast skeletal) and tropomyosin in all surface topographies 7 days after seeding but myotube formation was only observed on CFAL scaffolds and only few myotubes were formed on PCL scaffolds. The different cell behavior could be ascribed to two main parameters: fibers dimensions and fibers orientation of the substrates that could result in a better myotube formation on CFAL scaffolds.