Characterization of Electrospun Aligned Poly (L-lactide Acid)/Collagen Composite Nanofibers for Cell Guidance

Random and aligned nanofibrous scaffolds from pure poly(L-lactic acid) and hybrid Poly(L-lactic acid)/collagen (PLLA/Coll) in two different ratios of PLLA: collagen (75: 25; 50: 50) are fabricated. The diameters of the nanofibers are in the range of 210-430 nm and 180-410 nm for random and aligned fibers respectively, where the incorporation of collagen remarkably decreases fiber diameter. The aligned PLLA/Coll nanofibers express anisotropic wettability and mechanical properties, and their tensile performance in parallel (PL) to the direction of the fiber direction is remarkably higher than random PLLA nanofibers. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are seeded on random and aligned nanofibrous scaffolds; the SEM images show that aligned PLLA/Coll scaffolds greatly promote cell alignment due to their biological components and oriented morphology of the nanofibers.