Continuous Microfiber Wire Mandrel-Less Biofabrication for Soft Tissue Engineering Applications.

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Tissue Engineering
• Surgical Innovation

Background:

• Suture materials are common surgical bioimplants crucial for wound healing but have limitations like poor mechanical mimicry, fibrosis, and inflammation.
• Current sutures fail to replicate native tissue mechanical properties and can elicit adverse host responses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel mandrel-less electrodeposition method for fabricating continuous microfiber wires.
• To create medical fibers that mimic native tissue hierarchical organization and possess tailored mechanical properties.
• To evaluate the in vitro and in vivo performance of these novel microfiber wires as potential suture materials.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of continuous microfiber wires using a mandrel-less electrodeposition apparatus.
• Characterization of microfiber wire morphology and mechanical properties via scanning electron microscopy, digital image processing, and uniaxial tensile testing.
• In vitro assessment of monocyte/macrophage stimulation and in vivo evaluation on a rat surgical wound model.

Main Results:

• Mandrel-less biofabrication produced microfiber wires with hierarchical organization and tunable mechanical properties.
• In vitro tests showed an increased M2 macrophage phenotype for the fabricated wires.
• In vivo studies demonstrated reduced pro-inflammatory macrophage response and preserved mechanical properties after 30 days compared to conventional medical fibers.

Conclusions:

• The developed microfiber wires show promise as advanced suture materials for soft tissue surgery.
• The microarchitecture of the fabricated wires significantly influences a more favorable host response.
• This novel biofabrication technique offers a pathway to improved surgical implant design.