TITLE:
Electrospun Gelatin Constructs with Tunable Fiber Orientation Promote Directed Angiogenesis
AUTHORS:
Ramon B. Montero, Roberto I. Vazquez-Padron, Si M. Pham, Gianluca D’Ippolito, Fotios M. Andreopoulos
KEYWORDS:
Electrospinning; bFGF; Directed Angiogenesis; Vessel Formation; Critical Limb Ischemia; Scaffold Fabrication
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Regenerative Medicine,
Vol.3 No.1,
March
3,
2014
ABSTRACT: The field of therapeutic angiogenesis has been
predominantly concentrated in modalities that incorporate pro-angiogenic growth
factors and/or cells within polymeric constructs that are implanted into the
ischemic region. There is growing evidence that construct architecture can
significantly affect growth factor activity, cellular viability and
differentiation potential. Electrospinning is an attractive but simple scaffold fabrication technique that
offers several advantages over traditional fabrication approaches to prepare
highly organized structures for therapeutic angiogenesis applications. We
recently described the fabrication of nanofibrous scaffolds with aligned fiber
orientation that directed cell migration and orientation (i.e.human umbilical vein endothelial cells). Herein we demonstrate
the ability of bFGF containing nanofibrous gelatin B scaffolds with controlled
fiber orientation to promote capillary formation in vivo. Aligned scaffolds loaded with bFGF induced the highest
levels of reperfusion (73% increased in LDPI ratios by day 21 post ischemia
induction) in comparison to all other groups including scaffolds with random
fiber orientation. Furthermore, the newly formed vasculature, assessed by
confocal microscopy, had a parallel alignment along the axis of the scaffold’s fibers. In contrast, no vessel
directionality was observed in the animals treated with scaffolds with random
fiber orientation in the presence or absence of bFGF.