Title: Electrospun nanofibres of polycaprolactone, and their use for tendon regeneration

Authors: Lucy Bosworth, Peter Clegg, Sandra Downes

Addresses: Department of Biomaterials, School of Materials, University of Manchester, Grosvenor Street, Manchester M1 7HS, UK. ' Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, The University of Liverpool, University of Liverpool Veterinary Teaching Hospital Leahurst, Neston, Cheshire CH64 7TE, UK. ' School of Materials, University of Manchester, Grosvenor Street, Manchester M1 7HS, UK

Abstract: Inferior scar tissue formed when injured tendons heal often results in ongoing pain and site morbidity. With current treatments being ineffective, there is a clinical need for a tissue engineered approach. Electrospinning produces nanofibres with morphologies and architectures similar to the natural extra cellular matrix. Research incorporating electrospinning for tendon regeneration is limited. We report the effects of varying process parameters for fabricating electrospun polycaprolactone nanofibres, and the methods of fibre collection to achieve uniaxially aligned fibre bundles, particularly when spun into a liquid reservoir. We aim to group these bundles to develop a temporary scaffold mimicking the hierarchical tendon structure.

Keywords: tendon regeneration; electrospinning; polycaprolactone; nanofibres; biomaterials; scar tissue; fibre bundles; temporary scaffolds; tendon structure.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNBM.2008.016875

International Journal of Nano and Biomaterials, 2008 Vol.1 No.3, pp.263 - 279

Published online: 26 Jan 2008 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article