Mechanical Testing and Optimizing Cell Seeding on Porous Fibrin Scaffolds

There have been numerous studies on engineering an artificial esophagus and esophageal substitutes in the recent years. They include autologous tissues, artificial materials (Teflon and polypropylene), and porous scaffolds and meshes using polyvinilidene fluoride (PVDF), collagen, and decellularized matrices (i.e., acellular porcine). However, complications such as stenosis, leakage, and fibrosis, often occur. We present here a tissue engineering approach to creating an esophageal replacement using cell-seeded fibrin scaffolds as in vitro models of engineered tissues. Templated fibrin scaffolds were found to have initial mechanical properties independent of pore size. Various cell seeding techniques to distribute cells throughout the interconnected microporous fibrin scaffolds were examined. Although we found that standard cell seeding procedures are inadequate in distributing cells deeply into the scaffolds, the scaffolds were shown to support cell adhesion and growth. Biodegradable fibrin scaffolds demonstrate potential as a future tissue engineered scaffold for esophageal replacements.