Electrospun Clay: Fabrication of Moldable 3-Dimensional Fibrous Scaffolds

Electrospinning has been extensively utilized in a variety of biomedical applications due to its capabilities to induce high surface/weight ratio, versatile substructures and morphology, and especially biomimicity. Nevertheless electrospun fibres still have critical drawbacks to be applied in many biomedical trials: two-dimensional (2D) sheet-like constructs instead of three-dimensional (3D) structures. Recently, Xu et al. [1] presented a novel fabrication method of fluffy 3D electrospun matrices using polystyrene (PS) without manipulation of the apparatus. However, utilization of PS, which is not a biodegradable polymer, ultimately limits its utilization in in vivo applications. In this study, 3D scaffolds composed of biodegradable polymers were fabricated using a modified protocol. By employing the specific leaching technique, biodegradable and clay-like electrospun matrices that can be shaped freely into various shapes with a mold was fabricated. Furthermore, the combinatorial approach using electrospun clay with viral vector delivery [2] was also investigated. Adeno-associated viral vectors were adsorbed onto the scaffold for subsequent delivery to adherent cells. Mechanical, chemical and biological properties of electrospun clay-based scaffolds and, finally, the efficacy of viral delivery via 3D electrospun clay for potential tissue engineering scaffolds will be discussed. Reference: [1] B Sun et al. Nanoscale, 2012, [2] S Lee et al. Acta Biomater, 2011