Effects of Different Fibre Alignments and Bioactive Coatings on Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cell Adhesion and Proliferation in Poly (ɛ-caprolactone) Scaffolds towards Cartilage Repair

In this work, 3D biodegradable poly (ɛ-caprolactone) scaffolds with high porosity and interconnectivity were produced by extrusion and characterized in terms of their structural and mechanical properties. The effects of scaffold fibre alignment (0-45° and 0-90°) and of different adhesive coatings (Fibronectin, Gelatin and commercially available CELLstart™) on bone marrow mesenchymal stem/stromal cells adhesion, migration and proliferation were evaluated using AlamarBlue™ assay. Fibronectin and CELLstart™ coated poly (ɛ-caprolactone) scaffolds presented an improvement in cell adhesion of approximately 2-fold relatively to the non-treated scaffolds, independently of fibre alignment. Overall, all the conditions studied promoted the growth and migration of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells in the fabricated poly(ɛ-caprolactone) scaffolds, without affecting their chondrogenic differentiation and extracellular matrix deposition evaluated by Alcian Blue staining.