Table 6.

Summary of tissue engineered devices created to replicate the micro and nano spatial cues of the stem cell niche by combining two or more fabrication techniques.

Application	Polymer	Outcome	Ref
Develop fibrous membranes with controlled microenvironments to study MSC behavior	SLM metallic collectors used as templates for PCL fibers	Three different topographies were tested with dimensions 667, 1038, and 1168 µm. Average fiber diameter of 1.8–2.2 µm	[165]
Study of osteogenesis of hMSCs using sequential delivery of multiple growth factors	PCL/gelatin fibers incorporated into PEG-diacrylate hydrogels	PCL/gelatin microfibers of 1.32 ± 0.11 μm in diameter loaded into square pattern arrays of 1 × 1 mm	[179]
Design artificial limbal stem cell niches using biodegradable electrospun rings containing microfeatures	Polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) collectors used with PLGA 50:50 fibers	Constructs of 1.2 cm diameter and 0.36 mm thickness containing U-shaped micro pockets of 150–300 µm diameter made of microfibers of ~3.5 µm in diameter.	[167]
Create patterned scaffolds to simulate the anisotropic and multiscale architecture of cardiac tissue, to promote cardiac cell alignment	Teflon-coated silicon wafer patterned collector to use with a blend of poly(glycerol sebacate) (PGS) and PCL	Fibrous constructs with an average fiber diameter of 1.2 µ and three patterns tested: Two arrays of parallel grooves of 10 μm, and square shaped features of 100 μm.	[180]
Develop a new in vitro model in which to study epithelial stem cell behavior	Poly(3-hydroxybu- tyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate (PHBV) fibers patterned using a PEGDA template	Fibrous bilayer constructs with an average fiber diameter of 750 nm. The micropattern layer was made of square or rectangular features of 200–1000 µm in width and 200–500 µm in depth.	[166]
Create a platform to mimic the cellular microenvironment of hMSCs	Oxygen plasma treated PDMS microfluidic device with carboxyl group modified PU fibers	Microfluidic chip with randomly orientated nanofibers of 200–500 nm diameter.	[181]
Study the use of a sandwich-type scaffold to promote re-epithelialization	Stainless steel collector coated with plasma treated PCL polymer fibers	Random and aligned fibers with microwells of 200–280 µm in depth. No fiber diameter was reported.	[182]
Develop a hybrid scaffold to study chondrogenic differentiation of hMSCs based on protein and gene expression	Composite of a thermosensitive PEG-PNIPAAm gel and PCL fibers	An electrospun scaffold of ~11 µm fiber diameter encapsulated in a mold-less hydrogel.	[183]