Bone tissue engineering construct fabricated using a cell electrospinning technique with polyglutamic acid biopolymer

Cell electrospinning has gathered attention as a method for fabrication of tissue engineering scaffolds because of their ability to generate constructs with greater homogeneity in terms of cell distribution in the matrix. However, ability of this technique to generate functional bone tissue engineering constructs has remained unexplored. In this work, a bone tissue engineering construct is generated using poly(vinyl alcohol) as a vehicle to disperse MC3T3 cells onto a polycaprolactone frame by electrospinning of the PVA-cell suspension. The constructs were characterized for physico-chemical properties and scanning electron microscopy was used to ensure that cell morphology is unaffected due to the electrospinning process. Further, MTT assay was performed on day 1 and day 7 of culturing the construct and 81% viability immediately after electrospinning was found compared to positive control. Cell proliferation was also observed and confirmed by live/dead assay. In addition, alizarin red performed on the constructs after day 7 of culture exhibited that cells were able to maintain functionality. Moreover, global DNA hypomethylation was enhanced in cells subjected to electrical fields during electrospinning. Overall, it is concluded that engineered bone constructs can be fabricated by live cell electrospinning technique.