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Adapting the electrospinning process to provide three unique environments for a tri-layered in vitro model of the airway wall

Bridge, Jack C.; Aylott, Jonathan W.; Brightling, Christopher E.; Ghaemmaghami, Amir M.; Knox, Alan J.; Lewis, Mark P.; Rose, Felicity; Morris, Gavin E.

Authors

Jack C. Bridge

Christopher E. Brightling

Alan J. Knox

Mark P. Lewis

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FELICITY ROSE FELICITY.ROSE@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
Professor of Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering

Gavin E. Morris



Abstract

Electrospinning is a highly adaptable method producing porous 3D fibrous scaffolds that can be exploited in in vitro cell culture. Alterations to intrinsic parameters within the process allow a high degree of control over scaffold characteristics including fiber diameter, alignment and porosity. By developing scaffolds with similar dimensions and topographies to organ- or tissue-specific extracellular matrices (ECM), micro-environments representative to those that cells are exposed to in situ can be created. The airway bronchiole wall, comprised of three main micro-environments, was selected as a model tissue. Using decellularized airway ECM as a guide, we electrospun the non-degradable polymer, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), by three different protocols to produce three individual electrospun scaffolds optimized for epithelial, fibroblast or smooth muscle cell-culture. Using a commercially available bioreactor system, we stably co-cultured the three cell-types to provide an in vitro model of the airway wall over an extended time period. This model highlights the potential for such methods being employed in in vitro diagnostic studies investigating important inter-cellular cross-talk mechanisms or assessing novel pharmaceutical targets, by providing a relevant platform to allow the culture of fully differentiated adult cells within 3D, tissue-specific environments.

Citation

Bridge, J. C., Aylott, J. W., Brightling, C. E., Ghaemmaghami, A. M., Knox, A. J., Lewis, M. P., …Morris, G. E. (2015). Adapting the electrospinning process to provide three unique environments for a tri-layered in vitro model of the airway wall. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 101, Article e52986. https://doi.org/10.3791/52986

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Feb 18, 2015
Online Publication Date Jul 31, 2015
Publication Date Jul 31, 2015
Deposit Date Sep 19, 2018
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Publisher Journal of Visualized Experiments
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 101
Article Number e52986
DOI https://doi.org/10.3791/52986
Public URL http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4544510/
Publisher URL https://www.jove.com/video/52986/adapting-electrospinning-process-to-provide-three-unique-environments