The influence of scaffold fibre architecture on tenocyte tissue production under intermittent dynamic culture

This study evaluated how melt electrowritten (MEW) poly(caprolactone) scaffold fiber architecture influences tenocyte-mediated extracellular matrix (ECM) production under intermittent uniaxial dynamic culture, with a focus on replicating the multidirectional crimping associated with Achilles tendon (AT) auxeticity. Two biomimetic architectures were fabricated: (i) a bi-directionally crimped design (Group X) engineered to be auxetic (negative Poisson’s ratio), and (ii) a unidirectionally crimped design with orthogonal linear fibers (Group A). Primary rabbit Achilles tenocytes were seeded, pre-cultured statically for 1 week, then maintained either statically or under intermittent cyclic tension (4% strain, 1 Hz, 1 h/day) for 2 additional weeks. Intermittent dynamic loading increased cell number and ECM synthesis on both architectures versus static controls. Under dynamic culture, the auxetic bi-directional crimp scaffold (Group X) produced substantially more total collagen and higher dsDNA than Group A, while producing relatively less sulfated GAG per cell, yielding a collagen:sGAG ratio (~10:1) closer to reported healthy human AT tissue composition. This enhanced collagen deposition was accompanied by a higher effective tensile modulus of the dynamically cultured Group X constructs versus Group A, demonstrating that multidirectional crimp unfolding/auxetic mechanics can beneficially modulate tenocyte proliferation and matrix composition under physiologic-range cyclic loading.