Fibrous Scaffolds for Muscle Tissue Engineering Based on Touch-Spun Poly(Ester-Urethane) Elastomer

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Tissue Engineering
• Polymer Chemistry

Background:

• Developing aligned fibrous scaffolds is crucial for mimicking muscle tissue structure.
• Polyurethane elastomers offer potential for biocompatible and biodegradable materials.

Purpose of the Study:

• To report the touch spinning of a novel poly(1,4-butylene adipate)-based polyurethane elastomer.
• To evaluate the suitability of this material and method for skeletal muscle tissue engineering.

Main Methods:

• Solvent-free polymerization to synthesize the polyurethane elastomer.
• Touch spinning technique for fabricating aligned micro- and nano-fibers.
• Culturing C2C12 myoblasts on the fabricated fibrous scaffolds.

Main Results:

• The synthesized polymer exhibits a low elastic modulus, good recovery, resilience, processability, nontoxicity, biocompatibility, and biodegradability.
• Touch spinning enabled fast, precise deposition of highly aligned fibers without high voltage.
• C2C12 myoblasts showed excellent alignment, viability, and proliferation on the soft polymer fibers.

Conclusions:

• The combination of the novel polyurethane elastomer and touch spinning is highly suitable for engineering skeletal muscle tissue.
• The developed material and method effectively mimic the extracellular matrix of muscle tissue.
• This approach holds significant promise for advancing skeletal muscle regeneration strategies.