Recently, a spinneret composed of two coaxial capillaries was developed for simultaneously electrospinning two different
polymer solutions into core-shell structured fibers. In this study, core-shell-structured microfibers (CSMs) releasing
growth factors, composed of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) and hyaluronic acid (HA) at shell and core,
respectively, was prepared by a coaxial electrospinning technique for tissue engineering. The diameter of CSMs
could be controlled by the variation of the core flow rate. Confocal microscopic images demonstrated that basic
fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) was contained in the core (HA) of CSMs. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM)
supported that the core-shell structure of CSMs was evenly formed. In the release study, bovine serum albumin (BSA)
and bFGF were released from CSMs for 24 hrs at the controlled manner, respectively, and the release rate was controlled
by the thickness of the outer shell. The morphology of degraded CSMs that was observed by scanning electron
microscopy (SEM) demonstrated that the degradation of the biodegradable shell layer seems to control the
release mechanism and behavior of proteins from the core of CSMs. Obtained results demonstrated that the strategies
using CSMs may be an effective method for the controlled release of growth factors in tissue engineering.
Key words: controlled release, PLGA, hyaluronic acid, electrospinning, growth factor, tissue engineering
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