The release kinetics for a variety of proteins of a wide range of molecular mass, hydrodynamic radii, and isoelectric points through a nanofiber hydrogel scaffold consisting of designer self-assembling peptides were studied by using single-molecule fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS). In contrast to classical diffusion experiments, the single-molecule approach allowed for the direct det...

Rotator cuff tears represent the most common shoulder injuries in the United States. The debilitating effect of this degenerative condition coupled with the high incidence of failure associated with existing graft choices underscores the clinical need for alternative grafting solutions. The 2 critical design criteria for the ideal tendon graft would require the graft to not only exhibit physiol...

The goal of this protocol is to report a simple method for generating nanofiber scaffolds with gradations in fiber organization and test their possible applications in controlling cell morphology/orientation. Nanofiber organization is controlled with a new fabrication apparatus that enables the gradual decrease of fiber organization in a scaffold. Changing the alignment of fibers is achieved th...

The fibrocartilaginous menisci dwell between the articular surfaces of the knee and play a central role in joint function. Damage through trauma or degenerative changes is a common orthopaedic injury, disrupts the meniscus mechanical function, and leads to the precocious development of osteoarthritis. The current standard of treatment is removal of the damaged tissue, a procedure that does not ...

Dextran is a versatile biomacromolecule for preparing electrospun nanofibrous membranes by blending with either water-soluble bioactive agents or hydrophobic biodegradable polymers for biomedical applications. In this study, an antibacterial electrospun scaffold was prepared by electrospinning of a solution composed of dextran, polyurethane (PU) and ciprofloxacin HCl (CipHCl) drug. The obtained...

This review focuses on the role of nanostructure and nanoscale materials for tissue engineering applications. We detail a scaffold production method (electrospinning) for the production of nanofiber-based scaffolds that can approximate many critical features of the normal cellular microenvironment, and so foster and direct tissue formation. Further, we describe new and emerging methods to incre...

Peripheral blood mesenchymal stem cells (PBMSCs) may be easily harvested from patients, permitting autologous grafts for bone tissue engineering in the future. However, the PBMSC's capabilities of survival, osteogenesis and production of new bone matrix in the defect area are still unclear. Herein, PBMSCs were seeded into a nanofiber scaffold of self-assembling peptide (SAP) and cultured in ost...

Polymeric tissue-engineering scaffolds must provide mechanical support while host-appropriate cells populate the structure and deposit extracellular matrix (ECM) components specific to the organ targeted for replacement. Even though this concept is widely shared, changes in polymer modulus and other mechanical properties versus biological exposure are largely unknown. This work shows that speci...

Biodegradable nanofibers are expected to be promising scaffold materials for biomedical engineering, however, biomedical applications require control of the degradation behavior and tissue response of nanofiber scaffolds in vivo. For this purpose, electrospun nanofibers of poly(hydroxyalkanoate)s (PHAs) and poly(lactide)s (PLAs) were subjected to degradation tests in vitro and in vivo. In this ...