Fabrication of 3D aligned nanofibrous tubes by direct electrospinning

Abstract

Electrospinning has become a mainstream technology for production of nanofibers. Despite its popularity, production of aligned nanofibrous constructs in a tubular form by electrospinning remains a challenge. Here, we present a simple electrospinning approach that can produce nanofibrous tubes with either randomly oriented or aligned nanofibers. We examined the forces and key experimental factors that govern the formation and structural properties of produced nanofibrous constructs. We successfully demonstrated the production of these tubular constructs with one natural and two synthetic polymers (chitosan, polycaprolactone and poly(vinyl pyrrolidone)). These polymers have demonstrated their broad applicability in medicine and various engineering fields. We further demonstrated in a model bio-application that muscle cells cultured on the inner surface of an aligned nanofibrous tubular scaffold enabled the formation of aligned and densely populated myotubes organized as in native muscle tissues.