Abstract
Summary Statement
This study describes the design and preliminary in vitro testing of a novel patch for the repair of rotator cuff tendon tears. The laminated design incorporates woven and electrospun components. The woven element provides the patch with excellent mechanical strength and the electrospun layer improves cell attachment and promotes cell orientation and diferentiation.
Introduction
Aligned nanofibrous electrospun scaffolds have been previously proposed as ideal scaffolds for tendon repair, replicating the anisotropy of tendon and providing a biomimetic design to encourage tissue regeneration (Hakimi et al., 2012). However, such scaffolds are still limited in terms of mechanical properties. This paper presents the design of a novel patch for rotator cuff repair in which the electrospun scaffold is supported by a woven component.
Patients & Methods
Aligned polydioxanone (PDO) electrospun scaffolds were produced using a single nozzle electrospinning set-up with a rotating collector. The woven component was created by weaving PDO monofilaments with a manual loom. The woven and non-woven constituents were bound by a non-destructive method which preserves the surface morphology of the electrospun material. For each type of scaffold, a minimum of 3 specimens were tested to failure in tension using Zwick machine at rate of 0.3 mm/min until failure. For in vitro work, human-derived tendon cells were extracted from rotator cuff tendon tissue obtained during surgical repair, with appropriate ethical approval. Cells were cultured on the scaffolds for at least 14 days.
Results
The contribution of the woven component to the tensile strength of the assembled patch is about 20 times more when compared to the electrospun scaffold. In vitro work shows that human tenocytes grown on the nanofibrous non-woven electrospun component align in the direction of the fibre orientation. The appearance of the woven component is shown.
Discussion/Conclusion
While the woven component provides most of the mechanical strength, the aligned electrospun fibres enable cell orientation along the axis of the patch. These cells display a similar morphology to tenocytes in native tendons. With the combination of biomimetic features and good mechanical properties, this novel PDO patch is an excellent candidate material to support tendon repair.
