Electrospun Type 1 Collagen Matrices Using a Novel Benign Solvent for Cardiac Tissue Engineering.

Electrospinning is a well-established technique that uses a high electric field to fabricate ultra fine fibrous scaffolds from both natural and synthetic polymers to mimic the cellular microenvironment. Collagen is one of the most preferred biopolymers due to its biocompatibility and widespread occurrence in nature. Electrospinning of Collagen alone has been reported with fluoroalcohols such as Hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) and Trifluoroethanol (TFE), which are toxic to the environment. In this study we describe the use of a novel benign binary solvent to generate nanofibers of Collagen type 1, which is non-toxic and economical. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis revealed the characteristic feature of native collagen namely the 67 nm banding pattern, confirming that the triple helical structure was maintained. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis showed the fiber diameters to be in the 200-800 nm range. Biocompatibility of the three dimensional (3D) scaffolds was established by MTT assays using skeletal myoblasts and Confocal Microscopic analysis of immunofluorescent stained sections for muscle specific markers such as Desmin and Actin. Primary neonatal rat ventricular cardiomyocytes seeded onto the scaffolds were able to maintain their contractile function for a period of 17 days. Our work provides evidence that Collagen 1 can be electrospun without combining with other polymers using a novel benign solvent and we are currently exploring the potential of this approach for cardiac and skeletal muscle tissue engineering. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.