Table 1.
Summary of the recent literature on the use of electrospun fibers to control morphology, alignment and differentiation of diverse cell lines.
| Cells | Material | Fiber characteristics | Main outcomes | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Human MSCs | Poly (ε-caprolactone) | Randomly distributed fibers; Diameter: ~ 630 nm; Surface roughness: ~ 2 μm. | Recruitment of MSCs in vivo and ex vivo; Recruitment of macrophages in vivo; Phenotype transition of adhered macrophages from pro-inflammatory (M1) to pro-healing (M2). | Zhang et al., 2017 |
| Human MSCs | Poly (ε-caprolactone); Poly (ε-caprolactone)-gelatine | Randomly distributed and aligned fibers; Diameter: 600–780 nm; Porosity: 78–86%. | Cardiomyogenesis; Cytoskeletal arrangement; Changes in the cellular and nuclear morphology. | Ghosh et al., 2018 |
| Human MSCs | Poly (L-lactic acid) | Randomly distributed and aligned fibers coated with poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene; Diameter: ~ 950 nm. | Synergic effect of fiber alignment and electrical stimulation; Promotion of cellular activity and proliferation. | Jin et al., 2018 |
| Human adipose-derived MSCs | Poly (L-lactide ε-caprolactone) and fibrinogen | Random and aligned fibers; Diameter: 200–500 nm; Patterning of electrospun mats using honeycomb shaped collector produced by photolithography; Honeycomb: 160 μm internal diameter, walls of 20 μm width and 60 μm height. | Homotypic interaction of MSCs on honeycomb scaffolds; Osteogenic differentiation of MSCs on honeycomb scaffolds. | Nedjari et al., 2017 |
| Human adipose-derived MSCs | SU-8 photoresist | Randomly oriented fibers; Diameter: 550 nm; Patterning of electrospun mats by photolithography; Pattern dimensions: 20 μm ridges, 20 μm grooves, 5 μm pattern height. | Orientation and alignment of cells resembling the in vivo anisotropic multilamellar architecture of bone; Osteodifferentiation of MSCs. | Sankar et al., 2018 |
| Human bone marrow MSCs | Poly (ε-caprolactone) | Random-aligned-random structure; Diameter: 240–450 nm. | Regional induction of MSCs toward tenogenesis and osteogenesis; Collagen deposition. | Lin et al., 2017 |
| Human dental pulp MSCs | Polystyrene | Randomly distributed fibers; Diameter: 300–500 nm; Surface roughness: 0.8 μm. | Increased the expression of bone morphogenetic proteins and Wnt ligands; Odontoblast differentiation of MSCs; Dentin regeneration. | Rahman et al., 2018 |
| Mouse MSCs (C3H10T1/2) | Poly (L-lactic acid) | Random and aligned fibers; Diameter: 740–1070 nm. | Up-regulation of tendon-specific markers for MSCs on aligned fibers; Tendon-like tissue regeneration in vivo for aligned fibers; Bone formation in vivo for random fibers. | Yin et al., 2015 |
| Mouse MSCs (C3H10T1/2) | Polylactic acid and polycaprolactone | Random and aligned coaxial fibers; Diameter: ~ 2 μm; Porosity: 82–84%. | Expression of tendon-related markers; Tenogenic differentiation of mouse MSCs. | Baudequin et al., 2017 |
| Rat bone marrow MSCs | Poly (ε-caprolactone) and poly (ethylene glycol); Chitosan | Random and aligned fibers; Diameter: 200–600 nm; 3D multi-layered scaffolds: layers of fibers within a porous chitosan matrix. | Ligamentogenesis and partially decreased osteogenesis for MSCs for aligned nanofibers embedded scaffolds in vitro; Regeneration of periodontal ligament in vivo for aligned nanofibers embedded scaffolds; High expression levels of periostin and formation of tooth-supporting mineralised tissue in the regenerated periodontium for aligned scaffolds. | Jiang et al., 2015 |
| Rat bone marrow MSCs | Poly (ε-caprolactone) | Random and aligned fibers; Diameter: 820–1000 nm; Application of mechanical tension-stress after cell seeding. | Osteogenic differentiation of MSCs onto aligned fibers; Expression of osteogenic genes on aligned fibers; enhanced expression of osteogenic genes after mechanical stimulation. | Liu et al., 2017 |
| Rat adipose-derived MSCs | Poly (ε-caprolactone) | Random and aligned fibers; Diameter: 1 μm; Patterning of electrospun mats using copper mesh with grid length of 830 μm as collector. | Upregulated levels of anti-inflammatory and pro-angiogenic cytokines in vitro for MSCs on patterned mats; Therapeutic effects of the fibers in a skin excisional healing model in vivo. | Su et al., 2017 |
| HUVECs | Poly (D,L-lactide) and polycaprolactone | Random and aligned fibers; Diameter: 500–700 nm; Patterning of electrospun mats using a wire spring with interval distances of 300, 800, and 1500 μm as collector. | Modification of cytoskeleton morphology; Cell alignment and polarization on aligned fibers; Expression of angiogenesis-related genes. | Xu et al., 2015 |
| HUVECs | Polycaprolactone and polyethyleneoxide | Nanostructured, random fibers. Diameter: 4–20 μm. | Enhanced cells' proliferation; Stimulation of adhesion complex formation on nanotextured fibers. | Taskin et al., 2017 |
| HUVECs | Poly (L-lactide) | Random and aligned fibers; Patterning of electrospun mats by femtosecond laser ablation; Pattern dimensions: grooves distance of 20.9 and 81.3 μm; grooves width of 9.4 and 7.6 μm; grooves depth of 12.5 and 13.9 μm. | Changes in morphology and orientation of cells on micropatterned scaffolds; Reduction of monocytes adhesion on the micropatterned mats; Anti-inflammatory response. | Shin et al., 2017 |
| HUVECs | Poly (L-lactic acid) | Random fibers; Diameter: 540 nm; Patterning of electrospun mats by hot embossing; Pattern dimensions: 50, 100, and 200 μm wide grooves. | Cells alignment along the direction of the grooves; Expression of endothelial biomarkers by cells cultured on micropatterned scaffolds. | Yan et al., 2017 |
| HUVECs | Poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) | Aligned fibers; Diameter: 0.5–10 μm. | Cell alignment and polarization on fibers with intermediate diameter; Stimulation of a migratory phenotype. | Ahmed et al., 2018 |
| C2C12 myoblasts and neonatal rat cardiomyocytes | Poly (glycerol sebacate) and poly (caprolactone) | Random fibers; Diameter: 1.2 μm; Patterning of electrospun mats using a microstructured collector; Parallel grooves of 10 μm diameter and interspatial distances of 200 and 7 μm; Square-shaped structures of 100 μm size and 50 μm distance. Surface roughness: 0.4–1.3 μm. | Cells alignment along parallel grooves topography. | Tallawi et al., 2016 |
| C2C12 myoblasts | Poly (caprolactone) | Random and aligned fibers; Diameter: 0.8-2.5 μm. Distance between aligned fibers: 2.2 and 13.8 μm. | Uniaxial orientation and elongation of cells on aligned fibers; Myogenic differentiation and elongation of myotubes along the aligned fibers. | Park et al., 2016 |
| C2C12 myoblasts | Poly (L-lactic acid) | Random fibers; Diameter: 720 nm; Patterning of electrospun mats using a femtosecond laser ablation; Parallel grooves of 5 μm width and spacing of 10, 25, and 80 μm. | Cells alignment along the micro-grooves; Regulation of cellular adhesive morphology, proliferation, and distribution of focal adhesion proteins. | Jun et al., 2016 |
| C2C12 myoblasts | Poly (ε-caprolactone) and poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) | Random and aligned fibers; Diameter: 0.4–3.2 μm; | Increased alignment and aspect ratio of myotubes on aligned fibers. | Abarzúa-Illanes et al., 2017 |
| Neuron-like PC12 cells | Poly (caprolactone) and gelatin; Collagen; Polystyrene | Random fibers; Diameter: 440 nm; Patterning of electrospun mats using polystyrene 5 μm wide grooves and 18 μm diameter wells by thermal fusion. | Increased extension of neurites within the grooves; High neurite length per differentiated cell for the micropatterned substrates. | Malkoc et al., 2015 |
| Neural stem cells | Polyphenylene sulfone | Random and aligned fibers; Diameter: 735 nm. | Enhanced neuronal differentiation on the fibrous scaffolds; Growth and activity of primary neural cells on nanofibres; Parallel axon growth on aligned nanofibers. | Hajiali et al., 2018 |