Bioinspired stretchable helical nanofiber yarn scaffold for locomotive tissue dynamic regeneration

Summary

Simulating the microstructure and mechanical properties of natural tissues to achieve rapid tissue regeneration and protect cells under strain during body movement is a giant challenge in locomotive tissue engineering. Here, we built a hierarchical helical scaffold with high stretchability, which not only structurally resembles natural tissues but also matches their non-affine deformation mechanical properties. The cells on this scaffold can maintain high viability under cyclic strains, because the non-planar motion of coil structures mitigates the local maximum strain during stretching. Moreover, the in vivo experiments demonstrated that the scaffold affords a stable structural and mechanical microenvironment for cell growth and tissue morphogenesis. This helical scaffold breaks the inherent mindset of fixation repairing and makes it possible for reconstruction of the defective tissue even in moderate motion. The study proposes a new thinking about construction of stretchable scaffolds with superior mechanical properties for repairing locomotive tissue injuries.