• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.2.2-2.2
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• 2011

The central strategy in tissue engineering involves a biomaterial scaffold as a delivery carrier of cells and a depot to deliver bioactive molecules. The ability of scaffolds to control cellular response to direct particular repair and regeneration processes is essential to obtain functional tissue engineering constructs. Therefore, many efforts have been made to understand local interactions of cells with their extracellular matrix (ECM) microenvironment and exploit these interactions for designing an ideal scaffold mimicking the chemical, physiological, and structural features of native ECM. ECM is composed of a number of biomacromolecules including proteins, glycosaminoglycans, and proteoglycans, which are assembled together to form complex 3-dimensional network. Electrospinning is a process to generate highly porous 3-dimensional fibrous structure with nano to micro scaled-diameter, which can closely mimic the structure of ECM. In this presentation, our approaches to develop biomimetic electrospun fibers for modulation of cell function will be discussed.

• Fibers and Polymers
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.51-57
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• 2001

Tissue engineering is one exciting approach to treat patients who need a new organ or tissue. A critical element in this approach is the polymer scaffold, as it provides a space for new tissue formation and mimics many roles of natural extra-cellular matrices. In this review, we describe several design parameters of polymer matrices that can significantly affect cellular behavior, as well as various polymers which are frequently used to date or potentially useful in many tissue engineering applications. Interactions between cells and polymer scaffolds, including specific receptor-ligand interactions, physical and degradation feature of the scaffolds, and delivery of soluble factors, should be considered in the design and tailoring of appropriate polymer matrices to be used in tissue engineering applications, as these interactions control the function and structure of engineered tissues.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.259-269
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• 2022

Objective: Animal-free scaffolds have emerged as a potential foundation for consistent, chemically defined, and low-cost materials. Because of its good potential for high biocompatibility with reproductive tissues and well-characterized scaffold design, we investigated whether polyglycolic acid (PGA) could be used as an animal-free scaffold instead of natural fibrin-agarose, which has been used successfully for three-dimensional human endometrial cell culture. Methods: Isolated primary endometrial cells was cultured on fibrin-agarose and PGA polymers and evaluated various design parameters, such as scaffold porosity and mean fiber diameter. Cytotoxicity, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and immunostaining experiments were conducted to examine cell activity on fabricated scaffolds. Results: The MTT (3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) assay and SEM results showed that endometrial cells grew and proliferated on both scaffolds. Immunostaining showed cytokeratin and vimentin expression in seeded cells after 7 days of culture. On both scaffolds, an epithelial arrangement of cultured cells was found on the top layer and stromal arrangement matrix on the bottom layer of the scaffolds. Therefore, fibrin-agarose and PGA scaffolds successfully mimicked the human endometrium in a way suitable for in vitro analysis. Conclusion: Both fibrin-agarose and PGA scaffolds could be used to simulate endometrial structures. However, because of environmental and ethical concerns and the low cost of synthetic polymers, we recommend using PGA as a synthetic polymer for scaffolding in research instead of natural biomaterials.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.52-58
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• 2008

The object of this study is to investigate the effects of intermittent cyclic stretching on the smooth muscle cells (SMCs) seeded onto aligned multi-layered fibrous scaffold. To make multi-layered fibrous scaffold, polyurethane (PU) and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) were electrospun alternatively, then were immersed into distilled water to extract PEO. Various types of scaffolds were fabricated depending on fiber directions, i.e., aligned or randomly oriented. The direction of stretching was either parallel or vertical to the fiber direction for the aligned scaffolds. The stretching was also applied to the randomly aligned scaffolds. The duration of stretching was 2 min with 15 min resting period. During the stretching, the maximum and minimum strain was adjusted to be 10 and 7%, respectively with the frequency of 1 Hz. The bioactivities of cells on the scaffolds were assessed by quantifying DNA, collagen, and glycosaminoglycan (GAG) levels. And the cell morphology was observed by staining F-actin. SMCs under parallel stretching to the fiber direction responded more positively than those in other conditions. From the results, we could explain the morphological effect of a substrate on cellular activities. In addition the synergistic effects of substrate and mechanical stimuli effects were confirmed.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.160-169
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• 2008

Bakcground: To treat anastomosis site stenosis and occlusion of the artificial vessels used in vascular surgery, tissue-engineered artificial vessels using autologous cells have been constructed. We developed artificial vessels using a polymer scaffold and autologous bone marrow cells and performed an in vivo evaluation. Material and Method: We manufactured a vascular scaffold using biodegradable PLCL (poly lactide-co-${\varepsilon}$-caprolactone) and PGA (poly glycolic acid) fibers. Then we seeded autologous bone marrow cells onto the scaffold. After implantation of the artificial vessel into the abdominal aorta, we performed an angiography 3 weeks after surgery. After the dogs were euthanized we retrieved the artificial vessels and performed histological analysis. Result: Among the six dogs, 2 dogs died of massive bleeding due to a crack in the vascular scaffold 10 days after the operation. The remaining four dogs lived for 3 weeks after the operation. In these dogs. the angiography revealed no stenosis or occlusion at 3 weeks after the operation. Gross examination revealed small thrombi on the inner surface of the vessels and the histological analysis showed three layers of vessel structure similar to the native vessel. Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated regeneration of the endothelial and smooth muscle cell layers. Conclusion: A tissue engineered vascular graft was manufactured using a polymer scaffold and autologous bone marrow cells that had a structure similar to that of the native artery. Further research is needed to determine how to accommodate the aortic pressure.

• Textile Coloration and Finishing
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.284-301
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• 2022

The limitations of food production caused by global warming, consumption of soil fertility, and land shortage have demanded the development of alternative foods. Their market has been increasing, and in particular, there is an urgent need for an alternative meat. Among them, the non-slaughtered cell-cultured meat that can be manufactured in the laboratory, that is, cultured meat, is in the spotlight, which can solve the problem of meat consumption while including the advantages of meat. It is classified into minced cultured meat and structured one with a structure similar to that of real meat. The latter is currently facing limitations related scaffolds, cells, and the multiplicative problems, and many attempts are being made to solve them. The complex problem is related to secure texture and taste as well as structural similarity to actual meat. To solve the problems, it is necessary to lay emphasis on cells, there are fat cells and vascular cells, and the most fundamental cells, muscle cells. These are the main cells that control the texture and nutrients of meat, and unlike other cells, they grow in the form of fibers. A myofibril (also known as a muscle fibril) is a basic rod-like organelle of a muscle cell, which is a quantitatively major component of meat, and one of the tissues that maintain the appearance of the body and bones. In this review article, we focused on the growth of muscle cells into long, tubular cells known as muscle fibers using the fabricated fibrous scaffold, and reviewed not only research results for muscle tissue engineering but also various results in the related fields for the last five years.

• Fibers and Polymers
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.64-70
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• 2001

A three-dimensional, porous collagen/chitosan complex sponge was prepared to closely simulate basic extracellular matrix (ECM) constitutes, collagen and glycosaminoglycan. The complex sponge was prepared by a lyophilization method and had the regular network with highly porous structure, suitable for cell adhesion and growth. The pores were well interconnected, and their distribution was fairly homogeneous. The complex sponge was crosslinked using 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethyl aminopropyl) carbodiimide (EDC) and N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) to increase its boilogical stability and enhance its mechanical properties. The crosslinking medium has a great effect on the inner structure of the sponge. The homogeneous, porous structure of the sponge was remarkably collapsed in an aqueous crosslinking medium. However, the morphology of the sponge remained almost intact in a water/ethanol mixture crosslinking milieu. Mechanical properties of the collagen/chitosan sponge were significantly enhanced by EDC-mediated crosslinking. The potential of the sponge as a scaffold for tissue engineering was investigated using a Chinese hamster ovary cell (CHO-K1) line.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.269-283
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• 2024

Cultured meat is one of the research areas currently in the spotlight in the agricultural and livestock industry, and refers to cells obtained from livestock that are proliferated and differentiated and processed into edible meat. These cell-cultured meats are mainly studied at the lab-scale by culturing them in flasks, and for commercial use, they are produced using scaffolds that mimic cell supports. Scaffolds are broadly divided into fiber scaffolds, hydrogels, and micro-carrier beads, and these are classified according to processing methods and materials. In particular, a scaffold is essential for mass production, which allows it to have appearance, texture, and flavor characteristics similar to meat. Because cultured meat is cultured in a state where oxygen is blocked, it may be lighter in color or produce less flavor substances than edible meat, but these can be compensated for by adding natural substances to the scaffolds or improving fat adhesion. In addition, it has the advantage of being able to express the texture characteristics of the scaffolds that make up the meat in various ways depending on the materials and manufacturing methods of the scaffolds. As a result, to increase consumers' preference for cultured meat and its similarity to edible meat, it is believed that manufacturing scaffolds taking into account the characteristics of edible meat will serve as an important factor. Therefore, continued research and interest in scaffolds is believed to be necessary.

• Proceedings of the Korean Fiber Society Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.301-302
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• 2003

Recently, synthetic polymers containing units of carbohydrate derivatives with pendatnt functional groups have been much studied. The polymers should be able to be used drug carriers and scaffold for tissue engineering, because of their nontoxicity, biocompatibility, and biodegradability.$\^$1-6/ During the last three decades, various polyfunctional polymers, e.g. polyhydroxypolyamides and polyesteramides, based on carbohydrates have been reported and synthesized by condensation polymerization between sugar derivative and diamines, although it could be done via complicated reaction routes going through protecting.$\^$1-6/ (omitted)

• Proceedings of the Korean Fiber Society Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.191-192
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• 2007