Abstract
Plain or protein-coated synthetic materials are promising for the fabrication of advanced tissue engineered constructs. These materials are often based on engineered nano structures from different resources which are produced and post-processed for a broad spectrum of applications; skin, bones, or vessels scaffolds.
To better understand the function of the components in the multi-hierarchical nano structure and the relationship with the growing cells, it is necessary to observe the materials at different scale levels. This brings several challenges as the nano structures are below the resolution limit of conventional visualization methods which are used with mechanical testing protocols, and also the mechanical protocols are often transferred from the fields of industrial material testing.
Therefore, it is necessary to update or invent imaging and mechanical testing protocols which offer precise material identification for cell in vitro tissue engineering experiments. In this study, the electrospun polylactide (PLA) and polyactide-coglycolide nanofibrous (PLGA) membranes were coated with fibrin or collagen I, and then with fibronectin attached to the surface of these proteins.
Finally the membranes were tested for their mechanical properties and spatial organization.