Fabrication of Flexible 3D Electrospun Poly(trimethylene carbonate) Scaffolds with Superior Cellular Infiltration for Tissue Engineering

Although electrospinning has garnered significant attention, most studies focus on thermoplastic materials. The adaptation of elastomeric materials for electrospinning presents challenges, particularly due to their viscous behavior at room temperature (RT). In the present study, we introduce a versatile method for electrospinning rubber-like polymer poly(trimethylene carbonate) (PTMC) utilizing an ethanol collector bath. Traditional electrospinning primarily yields sheet-like fibrous meshes, failing to create a three-dimensional scaffold with structural integrity. Here, we present an innovative approach to transform 2D fibrous meshes into 3D fibrous scaffolds. Both scanning electron microscopy and X-ray analysis confirmed that the resulting 3D scaffolds possess a fibrous structure with a significant pore size. When human mesenchymal stem cells were seeded onto these 3D fibrous scaffolds, they demonstrated superior cellular infiltration after 5 days of culture, in contrast to the superficial growth typically observed on conventional 2D fibrous scaffolds. Our approach presents a new avenue for developing 3D fibrous scaffolds with superior cellular infiltration by electrospinning elastomers, thereby expanding the repertoire of processable materials and techniques for scaffold fabrication and advancing the development of novel biomaterials in tissue engineering.