Tailoring Cell Attachment onto Melt Electrowritten Scaffolds via a Phase Separated Hydrogel Coating with Peptide Functionalization

Abstract Highly porous scaffolds with a high surface area can be designed and fabricated via melt electrowriting (MEW). Here, the study introduces morphological features onto the MEW microfibers via a hydrogel coating of phase‐separated poly(2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (pHEMA). This coating is achi...

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Main Authors: Kelly L. O'Neill, Amanda Kurtz, Ievgenii Liashenko, Guilherme Rocha, Naomi C. Paxton, Paul D. Dalton
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley-VCH 2025-03-01
Series:Advanced Materials Interfaces
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.202400692
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author Kelly L. O'Neill
Amanda Kurtz
Ievgenii Liashenko
Guilherme Rocha
Naomi C. Paxton
Paul D. Dalton
author_facet Kelly L. O'Neill
Amanda Kurtz
Ievgenii Liashenko
Guilherme Rocha
Naomi C. Paxton
Paul D. Dalton
author_sort Kelly L. O'Neill
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Highly porous scaffolds with a high surface area can be designed and fabricated via melt electrowriting (MEW). Here, the study introduces morphological features onto the MEW microfibers via a hydrogel coating of phase‐separated poly(2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (pHEMA). This coating is achieved by capturing phase‐separated droplets of pHEMA onto poly(ε‐caprolactone) (PCL) microfibers via dip‐coating, resulting in a hydrogel coating with webbed structures across pores of the MEW scaffold. Excess pHEMA droplets are removed and phase separation is quenched by washing in water, and then functionalized by dipping the pHEMA coated scaffold into a buffered peptide solution. It is demonstrated that a cysteine‐terminated peptide sequence (Cys‐Gly‐Arg‐Gly‐Asp‐Ser‐Gly (CG‐RGD‐SG)) promotes fibroblast adhesion on the hydrogel‐coated MEW scaffolds compared to unmodified pHEMA and compared to scrambled peptide sequence. Due to the protein‐resistant nature of pHEMA, the hydrogel‐coated scaffolds show less cell attachment than non‐coated PCL scaffolds, while RGD‐functionalized pHEMA scaffolds achieve 2.8‐fold increase in cell attachment (p = 0.02) when compared to non‐functionalized pHEMA. The study therefore presents a platform that combines PCL scaffolds of microscale fibers with a phase‐separated pHEMA hydrogel coating that maintains the high porosity of MEW scaffolds yet increases surface area and, importantly, introduces the capability for tailoring cell attachment via peptide functionalization.
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spelling doaj-art-682644e7af244fcdb9599bc3224fb6122025-08-20T02:52:08ZengWiley-VCHAdvanced Materials Interfaces2196-73502025-03-01126n/an/a10.1002/admi.202400692Tailoring Cell Attachment onto Melt Electrowritten Scaffolds via a Phase Separated Hydrogel Coating with Peptide FunctionalizationKelly L. O'Neill0Amanda Kurtz1Ievgenii Liashenko2Guilherme Rocha3Naomi C. Paxton4Paul D. Dalton5Department of Bioengineering Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact University of Oregon 1505 Franklin Boulevard Eugene OR 97403‐6231 USADepartment of Bioengineering Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact University of Oregon 1505 Franklin Boulevard Eugene OR 97403‐6231 USADepartment of Bioengineering Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact University of Oregon 1505 Franklin Boulevard Eugene OR 97403‐6231 USADepartment of Bioengineering Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact University of Oregon 1505 Franklin Boulevard Eugene OR 97403‐6231 USADepartment of Bioengineering Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact University of Oregon 1505 Franklin Boulevard Eugene OR 97403‐6231 USADepartment of Bioengineering Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact University of Oregon 1505 Franklin Boulevard Eugene OR 97403‐6231 USAAbstract Highly porous scaffolds with a high surface area can be designed and fabricated via melt electrowriting (MEW). Here, the study introduces morphological features onto the MEW microfibers via a hydrogel coating of phase‐separated poly(2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (pHEMA). This coating is achieved by capturing phase‐separated droplets of pHEMA onto poly(ε‐caprolactone) (PCL) microfibers via dip‐coating, resulting in a hydrogel coating with webbed structures across pores of the MEW scaffold. Excess pHEMA droplets are removed and phase separation is quenched by washing in water, and then functionalized by dipping the pHEMA coated scaffold into a buffered peptide solution. It is demonstrated that a cysteine‐terminated peptide sequence (Cys‐Gly‐Arg‐Gly‐Asp‐Ser‐Gly (CG‐RGD‐SG)) promotes fibroblast adhesion on the hydrogel‐coated MEW scaffolds compared to unmodified pHEMA and compared to scrambled peptide sequence. Due to the protein‐resistant nature of pHEMA, the hydrogel‐coated scaffolds show less cell attachment than non‐coated PCL scaffolds, while RGD‐functionalized pHEMA scaffolds achieve 2.8‐fold increase in cell attachment (p = 0.02) when compared to non‐functionalized pHEMA. The study therefore presents a platform that combines PCL scaffolds of microscale fibers with a phase‐separated pHEMA hydrogel coating that maintains the high porosity of MEW scaffolds yet increases surface area and, importantly, introduces the capability for tailoring cell attachment via peptide functionalization.https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.2024006923D cell culturemelt electrowritingpoly(2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate)poly(ɛ‐caprolactone)RGD peptide
spellingShingle Kelly L. O'Neill
Amanda Kurtz
Ievgenii Liashenko
Guilherme Rocha
Naomi C. Paxton
Paul D. Dalton
Tailoring Cell Attachment onto Melt Electrowritten Scaffolds via a Phase Separated Hydrogel Coating with Peptide Functionalization
Advanced Materials Interfaces
3D cell culture
melt electrowriting
poly(2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate)
poly(ɛ‐caprolactone)
RGD peptide
title Tailoring Cell Attachment onto Melt Electrowritten Scaffolds via a Phase Separated Hydrogel Coating with Peptide Functionalization
title_full Tailoring Cell Attachment onto Melt Electrowritten Scaffolds via a Phase Separated Hydrogel Coating with Peptide Functionalization
title_fullStr Tailoring Cell Attachment onto Melt Electrowritten Scaffolds via a Phase Separated Hydrogel Coating with Peptide Functionalization
title_full_unstemmed Tailoring Cell Attachment onto Melt Electrowritten Scaffolds via a Phase Separated Hydrogel Coating with Peptide Functionalization
title_short Tailoring Cell Attachment onto Melt Electrowritten Scaffolds via a Phase Separated Hydrogel Coating with Peptide Functionalization
title_sort tailoring cell attachment onto melt electrowritten scaffolds via a phase separated hydrogel coating with peptide functionalization
topic 3D cell culture
melt electrowriting
poly(2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate)
poly(ɛ‐caprolactone)
RGD peptide
url https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.202400692
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