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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Near-field electrospinning of a polymer/bioactive glass

composite to fabricate 3D biomimetic structures

Krishna C. R. Kolan *, Jie Li , Sonya Roberts , Julie A. Semon , Jonghyun Park , Delbert E. Day ,
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Ming C. Leu 1
1 Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO, USA
2 Department of Biological Sciences, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO, USA
3 Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO, USA
Abstract: Bioactive glasses have recently gained attention in tissue engineering and three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting
because of their ability to enhance angiogenesis. Some challenges for developing biological tissues with bioactive glasses
include incorporation of glass particles and achieving a 3D architecture mimicking natural tissues. In this study, we investigate
the fabrication of scaffolds with a polymer/bioactive glass composite using near-field electrospinning (NFES). An overall
controlled 3D scaffold with pores, containing random fibers, is created and aimed to provide superior cell proliferation.
Highly angiogenic borate bioactive glass (13-93B3) in 20 wt.% is added to polycaprolactone (PCL) to fabricate scaffolds
using the NFES technique. Scaffolds measuring 5 mm × 5 mm × 0.2 mm in overall dimensions were seeded with human
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adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells to investigate the cell viability. The cell viability on PCL and PCL+glass scaffolds
fabricated using NFES technique and 3D printing is compared and discussed. The results indicated higher cell proliferation on
3D biomimetic scaffolds fabricated by NFES technique.
Keywords: Near-field electrospinning; three-dimensional biomimetic scaffold; polycaprolactone; polymer/bioactive glass
composite; borate bioactive glass; human adipose-derived stem cells

*Correspondence to: Krishna C. R. Kolan, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Missouri University of Science and
Technology, Rolla, MO, USA; kolank@mst.edu

Received: October 1, 2018; Accepted: October 8, 2018; Published Online: December 21, 2018
Citation: Kolan KCR, Li J, Roberts S, et al., 2019, Near-field electrospinning of a polymer/bioactive glass composite to
fabricate 3D biomimetic structures. Int J Bioprint, 5(1): 163. http://dx.doi.org/10.18063/ijb.v5i1.163

1. Introduction geometries are limited with extrusion-based 3D printing
methods [3-5] . Extrusion-based 3D printing is the most
Porosity, pore geometry, and pore size distribution are the versatile and widely adopted AM technique in bioprinting
most important parameters in scaffold fabrication in the
field of tissue engineering. Different cell types require because of a wide range of hydrogels that are suitable
[6]
different pore sizes for optimal growth and proliferation . for cell suspension and extrusion . However, creating
[1]
Previous investigations have shown that pore geometry macrostructures that mimic natural tissue architecture
in three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds mimicking natural with extrusion 3D printing has been a challenge.
tissue architecture could offer a superior environment On the other hand, electrospinning is a mature
for cell proliferation . While powder or resin bed- technology for fabricating aligned and randomly oriented
[2]
[7]
based additive manufacturing (AM) techniques offer fiber mats for different tissue engineering applications .
flexibility to fabricate scaffolds mimicking natural tissue In recent years, a most common approach adopted by
architecture, fabricating scaffolds with complex pore researchers to achieve the 3D biomimetic structures has

Near-field electrospinning of a polymer/bioactive glass composite to fabricate 3D biomimetic structures © 2019 Kolan, et al. This is an Open
Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc/4.0/), permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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