Bioinspired Microfabricated Scaffolds for Tendon Tissue Engineering

Tendons are composed of packed collagen fiber bundles aligned parallel to the longitudinal tendon axis and surrounded by a sheath¹ that improves friction-free gliding. This study aims to bioengineer fiber bundled
scaffolds to promote an aligned orientation of tendon cells as in native functional tissue. Moreover, these scaffolds were embedded in agarose to resemble tendon sheath or in a platelet lysate (PL)-rich agarose coating. PLs were chosen as a natural source of growth factors known to promote tissue regeneration². Fiber
scaffolds made of a blend of starch and polycaprolactone (SPCL) were designed by 3D printing and rolled into bundle-like structures. Tendon cells obtained from surgery surplus were expanded in basic medium. 24h after seeding (2x10⁵cells/scaffold) constructs were dip-coated in an agarose solution (2% in PBS) or in a PL (5mg/mL)-agarose solution for 7 days.