Design of a modified electrospinning for the in-situ fabrication of 3D cotton-like collagen fiber bundle mimetic scaffold

The ability to mimic the topography of aligned collagen fiber bundles (A-CFB) that form the structural basis for the extracellular matrix (ECM) can be an important step in the fabrication of engineered scaffolds. Because the cell adhesion to the surface topography involve cell adhesion localized structures, topographical features, which mimics the A-CFB of the matrix can be a significant factor for cell activities. In this study, we present a novel method for the fabrication of low-density electrospun fibers mimicking A-CFB constructs. The three dimensional (3D) cotton-like A-CFB mimetic scaffold (3D-CACMS) of a mixture of lactic acid (LA) and polycaprolactone (PCL) was prepared by multiple pins rotator electrospinning (MPRES), followed by selective leaching of LA. The results of SEM, FTIR, TGA, and DSC revealed the physicochemical properties of the as-fabricated scaffold. This 3D-CACMS attempt to mimic A-CFB and can potentially meet the requirements for practical use of biomedical engineering.