Electrospun bioscaffolds that mimic the topology of extracellular matrix

Abstract

Extracellular matrix (ECM) is a natural scaffold for cell, tissue, and organ growth. Its topology plays an important role in cell differentiation. There is a design challenge to fabricate biomaterials that mimic ECM's three-dimensional (3D) structures with defined shapes and complex porous architecture. The urinary bladder matrix (UBM) is used in this work as the model system of the ECM architecture. Cellulose acetate (CA) is the biomaterial of choice for building the UBM-mimicking scaffolds. Electrospinning is the fabrication method used to form complex, porous, 3D structures with specific design, in a single-step process.