Warp-Knitted Spacer Fabrics: A Versatile Platform to Generate Fiber-Reinforced Hydrogels for 3D Tissue Engineering

Benedikt Schäfer; Caroline Emonts; Nikola Glimpel; Tim Ruhl; Astrid S Obrecht; Stefan Jockenhoevel; Thomas Gries; Justus P Beier; Andreas Blaeser

doi:10.3390/ma13163518

Warp-Knitted Spacer Fabrics: A Versatile Platform to Generate Fiber-Reinforced Hydrogels for 3D Tissue Engineering

Benedikt Schäfer, Caroline Emonts, Nikola Glimpel, Tim Ruhl, Astrid S Obrecht, Stefan Jockenhoevel, Thomas Gries, Justus P Beier, Andreas Blaeser^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) possess huge potential for regenerative medicine. For tissue engineering approaches, scaffolds and hydrogels are routinely used as extracellular matrix (ECM) carriers. The present study investigated the feasibility of using textile-reinforced hydrogels with adjustable porosity and elasticity as a versatile platform for soft tissue engineering. A warp-knitted poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET) scaffold was developed and characterized with respect to morphology, porosity, and mechanics. The textile carrier was infiltrated with hydrogels and cells resulting in a fiber-reinforced matrix with adjustable biological as well as mechanical cues. Finally, the potential of this platform technology for regenerative medicine was tested on the example of fat tissue engineering. MSCs were seeded on the construct and exposed to adipogenic differentiation medium. Cell invasion was detected by two-photon microscopy, proliferation was measured by the PrestoBlue assay. Successful adipogenesis was demonstrated using Oil Red O staining as well as measurement of secreted adipokines. In conclusion, the given microenvironment featured optimal mechanical as well as biological properties for proliferation and differentiation of MSCs. Besides fat tissue, the textile-reinforced hydrogel system with adjustable mechanics could be a promising platform for future fabrication of versatile soft tissues, such as cartilage, tendon, or muscle.

Original language	English
Article number	3518
Number of pages	16
Journal	Materials
Volume	13
Issue number	16
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13163518
Publication status	Published - 10 Aug 2020

Keywords

tissue engineering
biofabrication
biohybrid scaffold
textile engineering
MESENCHYMAL STEM-CELLS
AUTOLOGOUS BREAST RECONSTRUCTION
HUMAN ADIPOSE-TISSUE
STROMAL CELLS
DIFFERENTIATION
PROLIFERATION
ELECTROSPUN
CONSTRUCTS
PERFUSION
DIEP

Access to Document

10.3390/ma13163518Licence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{a4f0e3c9c6834f1991348eb307e7ab22,

title = "Warp-Knitted Spacer Fabrics: A Versatile Platform to Generate Fiber-Reinforced Hydrogels for 3D Tissue Engineering",

abstract = "Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) possess huge potential for regenerative medicine. For tissue engineering approaches, scaffolds and hydrogels are routinely used as extracellular matrix (ECM) carriers. The present study investigated the feasibility of using textile-reinforced hydrogels with adjustable porosity and elasticity as a versatile platform for soft tissue engineering. A warp-knitted poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET) scaffold was developed and characterized with respect to morphology, porosity, and mechanics. The textile carrier was infiltrated with hydrogels and cells resulting in a fiber-reinforced matrix with adjustable biological as well as mechanical cues. Finally, the potential of this platform technology for regenerative medicine was tested on the example of fat tissue engineering. MSCs were seeded on the construct and exposed to adipogenic differentiation medium. Cell invasion was detected by two-photon microscopy, proliferation was measured by the PrestoBlue assay. Successful adipogenesis was demonstrated using Oil Red O staining as well as measurement of secreted adipokines. In conclusion, the given microenvironment featured optimal mechanical as well as biological properties for proliferation and differentiation of MSCs. Besides fat tissue, the textile-reinforced hydrogel system with adjustable mechanics could be a promising platform for future fabrication of versatile soft tissues, such as cartilage, tendon, or muscle.",

keywords = "tissue engineering, biofabrication, biohybrid scaffold, textile engineering, MESENCHYMAL STEM-CELLS, AUTOLOGOUS BREAST RECONSTRUCTION, HUMAN ADIPOSE-TISSUE, STROMAL CELLS, DIFFERENTIATION, PROLIFERATION, ELECTROSPUN, CONSTRUCTS, PERFUSION, DIEP",

author = "Benedikt Sch{\"a}fer and Caroline Emonts and Nikola Glimpel and Tim Ruhl and Obrecht, {Astrid S} and Stefan Jockenhoevel and Thomas Gries and Beier, {Justus P} and Andreas Blaeser",

note = "Funding Information: Acknowledgments: This work was supported by Michael Vogt and the Core Facility “Two-Photon Imaging” of the Aachen Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Research (IZKF). In addition, we acknowledge support by the German Research Foundation and the Open Access Publishing Fund of Technical University of Darmstadt. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 by the authors.",

year = "2020",

month = aug,

day = "10",

doi = "10.3390/ma13163518",

language = "English",

volume = "13",

journal = "Materials",

issn = "1996-1944",

publisher = "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)",

number = "16",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Warp-Knitted Spacer Fabrics

T2 - A Versatile Platform to Generate Fiber-Reinforced Hydrogels for 3D Tissue Engineering

AU - Schäfer, Benedikt

AU - Emonts, Caroline

AU - Glimpel, Nikola

AU - Ruhl, Tim

AU - Obrecht, Astrid S

AU - Jockenhoevel, Stefan

AU - Gries, Thomas

AU - Beier, Justus P

AU - Blaeser, Andreas

N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgments: This work was supported by Michael Vogt and the Core Facility “Two-Photon Imaging” of the Aachen Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Research (IZKF). In addition, we acknowledge support by the German Research Foundation and the Open Access Publishing Fund of Technical University of Darmstadt. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 by the authors.

PY - 2020/8/10

Y1 - 2020/8/10

N2 - Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) possess huge potential for regenerative medicine. For tissue engineering approaches, scaffolds and hydrogels are routinely used as extracellular matrix (ECM) carriers. The present study investigated the feasibility of using textile-reinforced hydrogels with adjustable porosity and elasticity as a versatile platform for soft tissue engineering. A warp-knitted poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET) scaffold was developed and characterized with respect to morphology, porosity, and mechanics. The textile carrier was infiltrated with hydrogels and cells resulting in a fiber-reinforced matrix with adjustable biological as well as mechanical cues. Finally, the potential of this platform technology for regenerative medicine was tested on the example of fat tissue engineering. MSCs were seeded on the construct and exposed to adipogenic differentiation medium. Cell invasion was detected by two-photon microscopy, proliferation was measured by the PrestoBlue assay. Successful adipogenesis was demonstrated using Oil Red O staining as well as measurement of secreted adipokines. In conclusion, the given microenvironment featured optimal mechanical as well as biological properties for proliferation and differentiation of MSCs. Besides fat tissue, the textile-reinforced hydrogel system with adjustable mechanics could be a promising platform for future fabrication of versatile soft tissues, such as cartilage, tendon, or muscle.

AB - Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) possess huge potential for regenerative medicine. For tissue engineering approaches, scaffolds and hydrogels are routinely used as extracellular matrix (ECM) carriers. The present study investigated the feasibility of using textile-reinforced hydrogels with adjustable porosity and elasticity as a versatile platform for soft tissue engineering. A warp-knitted poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET) scaffold was developed and characterized with respect to morphology, porosity, and mechanics. The textile carrier was infiltrated with hydrogels and cells resulting in a fiber-reinforced matrix with adjustable biological as well as mechanical cues. Finally, the potential of this platform technology for regenerative medicine was tested on the example of fat tissue engineering. MSCs were seeded on the construct and exposed to adipogenic differentiation medium. Cell invasion was detected by two-photon microscopy, proliferation was measured by the PrestoBlue assay. Successful adipogenesis was demonstrated using Oil Red O staining as well as measurement of secreted adipokines. In conclusion, the given microenvironment featured optimal mechanical as well as biological properties for proliferation and differentiation of MSCs. Besides fat tissue, the textile-reinforced hydrogel system with adjustable mechanics could be a promising platform for future fabrication of versatile soft tissues, such as cartilage, tendon, or muscle.

KW - tissue engineering

KW - biofabrication

KW - biohybrid scaffold

KW - textile engineering

KW - MESENCHYMAL STEM-CELLS

KW - AUTOLOGOUS BREAST RECONSTRUCTION

KW - HUMAN ADIPOSE-TISSUE

KW - STROMAL CELLS

KW - DIFFERENTIATION

KW - PROLIFERATION

KW - ELECTROSPUN

KW - CONSTRUCTS

KW - PERFUSION

KW - DIEP

U2 - 10.3390/ma13163518

DO - 10.3390/ma13163518

M3 - Article

C2 - 32785204

SN - 1996-1944

VL - 13

JO - Materials

JF - Materials

IS - 16

M1 - 3518

ER -