Engineered Hypopharynx from Coculture of Epithelial Cells and Fibroblasts Using Poly(ester urethane) as Substratum

Porous polymeric scaffolds have been much investigated and applied in the field of tissue engineering research. Poly(ester urethane) (PEU) scaffolds, comprising pores of 1–20 μm in diameter on one surface and ≥200 μm on the opposite surface and in bulk, were fabricated using phase separation method for hypopharyngeal tissue engineering. The scaffolds were grafted with silk fibroin (SF) generated from natural silkworm cocoon to enhance the scaffold’s hydrophilicity and further improve cytocompatibility to both primary epithelial cells (ECs) and fibroblasts of human hypopharynx tissue. Coculture of ECs and fibroblasts was conducted on the SF-grafted PEU scaffold (PEU-SF) to evaluate its in vitro cytocompatibility. After co-culture for 14 days, ECs were lined on the scaffold surface while fibroblasts were distributed in scaffold bulk. The results of in vivo investigation showed that PEU porous scaffold possessed good biocompatibility after it was grafted by silk fibroin. SF grafting improved the cell/tissue infiltration into scaffold bulk. Thus, PEU-SF porous scaffold is expected to be a good candidate to support the hypopharynx regeneration.