Melt electrospinning and its technologization in tissue engineering

Melt electrospinning is an emerging fiber-based manufacturing technique that can be used to design and build scaffolds suitable for many tissue engineering (TE) applications. Contrary to the widely used solution electrospinning, the melt process is solvent-free and therefore volatility and toxicity issues associated with solvents can be avoided. Furthermore, molten polymers are often viscous and nonconductive, making them candidates for generating electrospinning jets without electrical instabilities. This in turn permits a precise and predictable fiber deposition in the combination with moving collectors, termed melt electrospinning writing (MEW), allows the layer-by-layer fabrication of small to large volume scaffolds with specific designs, shapes and thicknesses. In vitro studies have demonstrated that scaffolds designed and fabricated via MEW can support cell attachment, proliferation and extracellular matrix formation, as well as cell infiltration throughout the thickness of the scaffold facilitated by the large pores and pore interconnectivity. Moreover, in vivo studies show that scaffolds designed for specific tissue regeneration strategies performed superbly. This review describes the state-of-the-art and unique perspectives of melt electrospinning and its writing applied to scaffold-based TE.