Harnessing Polyhydroxyalkanoates and Pressurized Gyration for Hard and Soft Tissue Engineering

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Regenerative Medicine
• Tissue Engineering

Background:

• Organ dysfunction leads to significant morbidity and mortality, with transplantation limited by donor organ scarcity.
• Tissue engineering offers a promising alternative by developing biomaterial scaffolds for tissue regeneration.
• Scalable manufacturing is crucial for the clinical translation of engineered tissues.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate scalable polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) scaffolds for diverse tissue engineering applications.
• To assess the potential of pressurized gyration as a manufacturing technique for PHA scaffolds.
• To demonstrate the efficacy of PHA scaffolds in bone, nerve, and cardiovascular regeneration.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of uniaxial PHA scaffolds using pressurized gyration, a hybrid scalable spinning technique.
• Evaluation of bone tissue engineering using chorioallantoic membrane and in vivo studies.
• Assessment of nerve regeneration using dorsal root ganglion-based 3D ex vivo models.
• Characterization of cardiomyocyte differentiation and function using human induced pluripotent stem cells.

Main Results:

• PHA scaffolds demonstrated vascularization, collagen deposition, and cellular invasion in bone tissue engineering models.
• Significant axonal outgrowth was observed in nerve regeneration models utilizing PHA scaffolds.
• Cardiomyocytes differentiated on PHA scaffolds exhibited mature phenotypes and optimal calcium handling.
• Pressurized gyration proved effective for mass-producing PHA scaffolds suitable for hard and soft tissue regeneration.

Conclusions:

• Engineered PHA-based gyrospun fibers represent a versatile platform for scalable tissue regeneration.
• The developed scaffolds show potential for successful application in bone, nerve, and cardiovascular tissue engineering.
• This technology offers a promising solution to address the shortage of donor organs through regenerative medicine.