THE NEXT-GENERATION NANOCOMPOSITE MATERIALS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF TISSUE-ENGINEERED ORGANS AND TISSUES

Objectives: Persisting organ shortages concurring with exponentially rising demands for donor tissues and organs have sparked a biotechnological race for the synthesis of artificial alternatives. Recently, fundamental advancements within the field of tissue engineering have furthered the potential for developing optimised bio-artificial substitutes. This comprises the growth of new tissue in a biological or synthetic scaffold within a bioreactor. In our laboratories, we have developed and patented a family of new generation nanocomposite polymers based on polyhedral oligomeric silsesqioxane (TOSS) integrated poly(carbonate) urea-urethane (PCU) (non biodegradable) as well as the biodegradable pendant POSS integrated poly(caprolactone) urea-urethane (PCL) for the creation of 3-dimensional scaffolds for surgical applications. Methods: Here, we present the characterization of our nanocomposite polymers including methods of fabrication, relevance of surface nanotopography in relation to biocompatibility and cell attachment, cellular integration and viability as well as their proliferative capacity. Polymers were fabricated using electrospinning as well as ultrasonic atomization spraying techniques. Utilising a tissue engineering approach, 3-dimensional polymeric scaffolds were created, characterized and integrated with various cell types including endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) and adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs). Results: Integration of the POSS nanocages into the polymeric scaffolds conferred material biostability, anti-inflammatory and anti-thrombogenic properties and changed the surface nanotopography of the scaffold to create a more favourable extra-cellular environment for cells seeded onto it. EPCs and ADSCs were successfully grown on the nanocomposite scaffolds and showed viability as well as proliferative capacity. Conclusions: There remains an unmet clinical need for effective scaffolds for tissue engineering biological substitutes. We have succeeded in developing new generation nanocomposite materials based on smart, bioactive, nanostructured materials to develop new types of tissue engineering scaffolds for the regeneration of tissues and organs.