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Cell Biology International (2005) 29, 861–867 (Printed in Great Britain)

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In vitro study of smooth muscle cells on polycaprolactone and collagen nanofibrous matrices

J. Venugopal^*, L.L. Ma, T. Yong and S. Ramakrishna

Biochemistry, NUSNNI, E3, #05-14, Biochemistry, 9 Engineering Drive 1, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117 576, Singapore

Abstract

Biodegradable polycaprolactone and collagen nanofibers were produced by electrospinning, with fiber diameters of around 300–700nm and features similar to the extracellular matrix of natural tissue. Human coronary artery smooth muscle cells (SMCs) seeded on nanofibrous matrices tend to maintain normal phenotypic shape and growth tends to be guided by the nanofiber orientation. The SMC and nanofibrous matrix interaction was observed by SEM, MTS assay, trypan blue exclusion method and laser scanning confocal microscopy. The results showed that the proliferation and growth rate of SMCs were not different on polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibrous matrices coated with collagen or tissue culture plates. PCL nanofibrous matrices coated with collagen showed that the SMCs migrated towards inside the nanofibrous matrices and formed smooth muscle tissue. This approach may be useful for engineering a variety of tissues in various structures and shapes, and also to demonstrate the importance of matching both the initial mechanical properties and degradation rate of nanofibrous matrices to the specific tissue engineering.

Key words: Polycaprolactone, Collagen, Smooth muscle cells, Nanofibers, Tissue engineering.

^*Corresponding author. Tel.: +65 6874 2162; fax: +65 6874 3346.

Received 13 October 2004/25 March 2005; accepted 30 March 2005