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International Journal of Bioprinting 3D-printed variable stiffness scaffolds

in pore sizes of 68–99 µm; and flash freezing caused a regenerative medicine strategies to boost research in
significant decrease in pore size to 17–50 µm. Hybrid cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, neurological, oncological,
ECM/PCL scaffolds seeded with hMSCs successfully immunological and infectious diseases” (NORTE-01-
infiltrated the scaffold, with the PCL fibers serving as a 0145-FEDER-000039), funded by the NORTE2020
micro-pattern to direct the proliferation of cells and newly Program, Norte Portugal Regional Coordination and
secreted ECM. The hMSCs displayed a predominantly Development Commission (CCDR-N). The authors
elongated morphology and successfully secreted ECM. also thank FCT for funding LA ICVS/3B: (i) “Base”
By D21, the collagen content within the scaffolds was funding (https://doi.org/10.54499/UIDB/50026/2020);
found to be 22–25% of the native meniscus tissue, higher (ii) “Programático” funding: (https://doi.org/10.54499/
than previous reports for meniscus regeneration. The UIDP/50026/2020); and iii) “Complementar - LA”
matrix produced along the fiber orientation increased funding: (https://doi.org/10.54499/LA/P/0050/2020).
the compressive modulus over time, possibly due to the
restriction of water flow between the fibers. This could Conflict of interest
also be attributed to the synergetic relationship between The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
collagen fibers and GAGs in the native meniscus. Taken
together, the enhanced cellular proliferation, ability to Author contributions
synthesize ECM similar to the native tissue, capability to
provide a micro-pattern for directing the orientation of the Conceptualization: Caroline A. Murphy, Maurice N. Collins
newly synthesized ECM, and improvement in mechanical Data curation: Caroline A. Murphy, Ibrahim Fatih Cengiz
properties over time make this hybrid scaffold a promising Formal analysis: Caroline A. Murphy, Maurice N. Collins
candidate for meniscus tissue engineering applications. Funding acquisition: Caroline A. Murphy, Ibrahim Fatih
Cengiz, Aleksandra Serafin, Rui L. Reis, Joaquim
Acknowledgments Miguel Oliveira, Maurice N. Collins

The authors would like to sincerely thank Dr. Atul K. Investigation: Caroline A. Murphy, Maurice N. Collins
Garg, Dr. Gráinne M. Cunniffe, and Prof. Daniel Kelly Methodology: Caroline A. Murphy, Maurice N. Collins
for the support and mentorship provided throughout the Supervision: Rui L. Reis, Joaquim Miguel Oliveira, Maurice
duration of this project. The authors would also like to N. Collins
acknowledge the Johnson & Johnson 3D Printing Center Visualization: Caroline A. Murphy, Aleksandra Serafin,
of Excellence, Manufacturing Technology and Innovation, Maurice N. Collins
and Automation Center of Excellence. The graphical Writing - original draft: Caroline A. Murphy, Aleksandra
abstract was created using the BioRender Software. Serafin, Ibrahim Fatih Cengiz, Joaquim Miguel
Oliveira, Maurice N. Collins
Funding Writing - review & editing: Aleksandra Serafin, Rui L. Reis,
Joaquim Miguel Oliveira, Maurice N. Collins
The authors would like to thank the funding provided by
the Irish Research Council (Project ID: EPSPG/2015/93) Ethics approval and consent to participate
in partnership with Johnson & Johnson and the
Government of Ireland (Postdoctoral Fellowship Project Not applicable.
ID: GOIPD/2023/1431). I.F.C. thanks the Portuguese
Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and Consent for publication
acknowledges the FCT distinction attributed to I.F.C. under Not applicable.
the Estímulo ao Emprego Científico program (2021.01969.
CEECIND) (https://doi.org/10.54499/2021.01969. Availability of data
CEECIND/CP1664/CT0017). This study received The datasets used and analyzed in this study are available
financial support from the European Commission-funded from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Oncoscreen project (Grant agreement ID: 101097036).
The authors also thank the FEDER program for funds References
provided under the JUSTHera project (NORTE-01-0145-
FEDER-000055) and the 0624_2IQBIONEURO_6_E 1. Zhang K, Li L, Yang L, et al. The biomechanical changes of
project (inter-regional cooperation program VA Spain- load distribution with longitudinal tears of meniscal horns
Portugal POCTEP 2014–2020). The authors thank on knee joint: a finite element analysis. J Orthop Surg Res.
the financial support provided under the project 2019;14(1): 237.
“HEALTH-UNORTE: Setting-up biobanks and doi: 10.1186/s13018-019-1255-1

Volume 10 Issue 4 (2024) 512 doi: 10.36922/ijb.3784