Ion-induced electrospinning of hierarchical spiderweb-like bioscaffolds

Tissue engineered scaffolds need to possess various functionalities, including biocompatibility, mechanical support, bioactivity , and vascularization. The design and fabrication of bioscaffolds to attain mutual coordination among these functionalities with minimal processing complexity are a highly challenging but rewarding task. In this study, a simple, effective one-step electrospinning method was developed to fabricate hierarchical spiderweb-like bioscaffolds that achieve both superior biological and mechanical functionalities. By incorporating ionic drugs of deferoxamine mesylate and lithium chloride, the spiderweb-inspired structures with adjustable coverages (up to 100 %) were successfully created, imparting the fibrous bioscaffolds with remarkable tensile strengths (∼88.28 MPa). The strengthening mechanisms endowed by the spiderweb structure in optimizing stress distribution to delay damage and enhance load-bearing ability were elucidated through finite element simulations . Furthermore, this hierarchical spiderweb-like bioscaffold demonstrated favorable biological characteristics, including biocompatibility, osteogenesis, angiogenesis, and hemostasis. The presence of the nano-spiderweb structures significantly improved cell adhesion and differentiation on the scaffold and increased the spreading area of cells by 2–3 times. The dual-drug loaded bioscaffolds with full coverages of the spiderweb structure exhibited the least amount of bleeding (45.33 ± 27.47 mg) and the fastest hemostasis speed (82 ± 8.19 s) in the hemostasis test, compared to the control group. Overall, the outstanding performance makes the developed bioscaffolds a promising alternative for tissue repair and regeneration in the field of tissue engineering .