In situ ornamenting poly(ε-caprolactone) electrospun fibers with different fiber diameters using chondrocyte-derived extracellular matrix for chondrogenesis of mesenchymal stem cells

Biomimetic instructive tissue engineering scaffolds are critical for achieving successful tissue regeneration. In the present study, we developed a novel scaffold via ornamenting poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) electrospun fibers with a chondrocyte-derived extracellular matrix (ECM)-coating, which was applied for chondrogenesis of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). PCL fibrous films with different fiber diameters (1282 +/- 121 nm, 549 +/- 61 nm and 285 +/- 38 nm) were first prepared via electrospinning. Rabbit articular chondrocytes (rACs) were cultured on PCL fibrous scaffolds, followed by a decellularization treatment to generate decellularized ECM (dECM)-coated PCL scaffolds (dECM/PCL). Rabbit bone marrow-derived MSCs (rMSCs) were then seeded onto these scaffolds and adhesion, proliferation and chondrogenic differentiation were evaluated. dECM/PCL scaffolds displayed distinct surface microstructural features with varying fiber diameters and fibrous mesh-like ECM with more developed collagen fibers was observed on nanofibers. On dECM/PCL scaffolds, rMSCs tended to spread more at 24 h post-seeding and proliferated better within 7 d compared to those on uncoated PCL scaffolds. Based on analysis of gene expression, rMSCs underwent the best chondrogenic differentiation on dECM/PCL scaffolds of 549-nm fibers. Collectively, such dECM/PCL composite scaffolds are very promising for cartilage tissue regeneration.