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Like the morphology of native tissue fiber arrangement (such as skeletal muscle), unidirectional anisotropic scaffolds are highly desired as a means to guide cell behavior in anisotropic tissue engineering. In contrast, contour-like staircases exhibit directional topographical cues and are judged as an inevitable defect of fused deposition modeling (FDM). In this study, we will translate this staircase defect into an effective bioengineering strategy by integrating FDM with surface coating technique (FCT) to investigate the effect of topographical cues on regulating behaviors of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) toward skeletal muscle tissues. This integrated approach serves to fabricate shape-specific, multiple dimensional, anisotropic scaffolds using different biomaterials. 2D anisotropic scaffolds, first demonstrated with different polycaprolactone concentrations herein, efficiently direct hMSC alignment, especially when the scaffold is immobilized on a support ring. By surface coating the polymer solution inside FDM-printed sacrificial structures, 3D anisotropic scaffolds with thin wall features are developed and used to regulate seeded hMSCs through a self-established rotating bioreactor. Using layer-by-layer coating, along with a shape memory polymer, smart constructs exhibiting shape fix and recovery processes are prepared, bringing this study into the realm of 4D printing. Immunofluorescence staining and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis confirm that the topographical cues created via FCT significantly enhance the expression of myogenic genes, including myoblast differentiation protein-1, desmin, and myosin heavy chain-2. We conclude that there are broad application potentials for this FCT strategy in tissue engineering as many tissues and organs, including skeletal muscle, possess highly organized and anisotropic extracellular matrix components.
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Application of low-temperature plasma treatment for rapid and efficient polydopamine coating on 3D-printed polymer scaffolds
Polydopamine-based bioinspired surface coating can augment improved adhesive nature and functional performance to materials. Here in, we report for the first time the capability of low-temperature hydrogen plasma treatment to enhance the polydopamine coating on 3D-Printed Polymer Scaffolds. The hydrogen plasma-treated scaffolds were systematically characterized with different analytical techniques. It was seen that hydrogen plasma treatment can significantly enhance the polydopamine coating on scaffolds. This observed finding of the utility of plasma to enhance the polydopa- mine coating on 3D-printed polymer scaffolds could significantly reduce the current processing time of polydopamine coating on material surfaces.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2148897
- PAR ID:
- 10445546
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- MRS Communications
- ISSN:
- 2159-6867
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1557/s43579-023-00417-3
