Fabrication of Urethral Tissue Engineering Scaffolds Based on Multi-scale Structure of Bacterial Cellulose Matrix Materials: A Preliminary Study

Tissue engineering (TE) approaches provide an effective strategy for developing functional substitutes to repair or replace failing urethra. In urethral TE, one of the most important challenges is design and fabrication the urethral scaffolds that possess biomimetic multi-scale structures composed of urethral shape and micropore microporous structure with nanofibers for more biomimetic the native urethral ECM. In this study, ultrasonography was used to reconstruct a 3D digital model of human urethra. Then, the micro- and nano- structural characteristics of urethral ECM were studied by using FF-SEM. The indirect 3D printing technology and template biosynthesis method were used to fabricate a 3D gelatin/silk-bacterial cellulose (Gel/silk-BC) urethral scaffold, with defined macro-, micro- and nanostructure. The Gel/silk-BC scaffold has a urethral shape in macro-size, and highly interconnected micropore (140 ± 34 μm) with surface decorated of BC nanofibers (24.6 ± 5.0 nm), which serve as mimics for the native urethra ECM.