Cells grown on bioactive matrices have immensely advanced many aspects of biomedical research related to drug delivery and tissue engineering. Our main objective was to perform simple evaluation of the structural and biotic qualities of cell scaffolds made of affordable biomaterials for liver cell line (HepG2) cultivation in vitro. In this work the electrospun matrix made of synthetic polyester poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) was compared with the natural protein-based extracellular matrix isolated from porcine liver (ECM). Mechanical and structural analysis showed that ECM was about 12 times less resistant to tensile stress while it had significantly larger pore size and twice smaller water contact angle than PCL. Bioactivity assessment included comparison of cell growth and transfection efficiency on cell-seeded scaffolds. Despite the differences in composition and structure between the two respective matrices, the rate of cell spreading and the percentage of transfected cells on both scaffolds were fairly comparable. These results suggest that in an attempt to produce simple, cell carrying structures that adequately simulate the natural scaffold, one can rely on PCL electrospun mats.

In the present study, core-reinforced braided composite rods (BCRs) were developed and characterized for strain sensing capability. A mixture of carbon and glass fibre was used in the core, which was surrounded by a braided cover of polyester fibres. Three compositions of core with different carbon fibre/glass fibre weight ratios (23/77, 47/53, and 100/0) were studied to find out the optimum composition for both strain sensitivity and mechanical performance. The influence of carbon fibre positioning in BCR cross-section on the strain sensing behaviour was also investigated. Strain sensing property of BCRs was characterized by measuring the change in electrical resistance with flexural strain. It was observed that BCRs exhibited increase (positive response) or decrease (negative response) in electrical resistance depending on carbon fibre positioning. The BCR with lowest amount of carbon fibre was found to give the best strain sensitivity as well as the highest tensile strength and breaking extension. The developed BCRs showed reversible strain sensing behaviour under cyclic flexural loading with a maximum gauge factor of 23.4 at very low strain level (0.55%). Concrete beams reinforced with the optimum BCR (23/77) also exhibited strain sensing under cyclic flexural strain, although the piezoresistive behaviour in this case was irreversible.

The study focuses on the fabrication and properties evaluation of dual functional electrospun polycaprolactone scaffolds incorporating antibiotic drug cefuroxime and having custom tailored topography for the support of human cells to be used in tissue regeneration. The scaffolds were evaluated in regard to their morphology, total porosity, thermal properties, tensile properties and cells adhesion/growth, thus to define the effect of both drug content and physical architecture on the scaffolds properties. Both the addition of the drug and the scaffolds custom topography resulted in higher total porosity (up to 90%), while the fibers diameter highest reduction was up to 73%. The type of 3 D printed collector influenced scaffolds tensile properties, thus the increase of the tensile strength was due to the change of the central cylinder height in the hexagonal geometry of the collectors. Cells distribution and spreading on the electrospun scaffolds after 72 hours, showed that scaffolds with custom topography have more evenly scattered cells than the ones with random electrospun fibers. The study has demonstrated that both drug concentration and scaffolds target topography influenced the scaffolds properties and both can be optimized depending on scaffolds demands.