In vitro behavior of tendon stem/progenitor cells on bioactive electrospun nanofiber membranes for tendon-bone tissue engineering applications

Yucheng Lin,1-3,* Lu Zhang,4,* Nancy Q Liu,5 Qingqiang Yao,1,2 Ben Van Handel,5 Yan Xu,1,2 Chen Wang,3 Denis Evseenko,5 Liming Wang1,21Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China; 2Digital Medicine Institute, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Zhongda Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Anesthesiology, Women’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, CA, USA*These authors contributed equally to this workPurpose: In order to accelerate the tendon-bone healing processes and achieve the efficient osteointegration between the tendon graft and bone tunnel, we aim to design bioactive electrospun nanofiber membranes combined with tendon stem/progenitor cells (TSPCs) to promote osteogenic regeneration of the tendon and bone interface.Methods: In this study, nanofiber membranes of polycaprolactone (PCL), PCL/collagen I (COL-1) hybrid nanofiber membranes, poly(dopamine) (PDA)-coated PCL nanofiber membranes and PDA-coated PCL/COL-1 hybrid nanofiber membranes were successfully fabricated by electrospinning. The biochemical characteristics and nanofibrous morphology of the membranes, as well as the characterization of rat TSPCs, were defined in vitro. After co-culture with different types of electrospun nanofiber membranes in vitro, cell proliferation, viability, adhesion and osteogenic differentiation of TSPCs were evaluated at different time points.Results: Among all the membranes, the performance of the PCL/COL-1 (volume ratio: 2:1 v/v) group was superior in terms o