5. Set a Z 0 of 2 mm, and set the X 0 and Y 0 coordinates properly,
depending on the instrument, fabrication software, and beaker
size used (see Note 9).
6. Fill the coagulation bath beaker with ethanol such that the
liquid level is at least 15 mm (see Notes 10 and 11).
7. Move the needle to X,Y coordinates out of the deposition area,
and set a Z coordinate value for the needle tip position of at
least 10 mm (see Note 12).
8. Start solution feeding at a flow rate of 4 mL/h (see Note 13).
9. When the extruded filament has a continuous and homogenous morphology, decrease the flow rate to 1 mL/h and wait at
least 10 s, checking that the filament flow is eventually stabilized (see Note 14).
10. Start the computer-controlled motion of the needle and the
construction platform (see Notes 15–17).
3.3 Post-fabrication
Treatment
1. Remove the samples from the coagulation bath, and place them
under a fume hood for 48 h (see Note 18).
2. Place the samples in a vacuum chamber for at least 16 h.
3. Store the samples in a desiccator.
4 Notes
1. The rapid prototyping system (MDX-40A; ROLAND DG Mid
Europe Srl, Ancona, Italy) modified in-house by replacing the
milling head unit with a syringe pump system (NE-1000; New
Era Pump Systems Inc., Wantagh, NY, USA) and fixing to the
construction platform a beaker containing the ethanol as coagulation bath [6] can be considered as a reference CAWS equipment (Fig. 2). In this case, the lay-down pattern for scaffold
production is either calculated using an algorithm developed in
MATLAB software (The MathWorks, Inc., Natick, MA, USA)
or directly written in G-code and then uploaded into the
equipment through the software VPanel for MDX-40A.
2. The prepared PCL solution is stable at room temperature. If
the temperature drops appreciably (e.g., during the night), the
solution can undergo gelation.
3. In order to fabricate PCL scaffolds with a fiber-to-fiber distance
of 1 mm (PCL80 1 and PCL80/HA 1 ), 0.5 mm staggered fiber
spacing between successive layers with the same fiber orientation is necessary [4]; in addition, in this case C is 10% w/v, V dep
300 mm/min, and F sol 1.4 mL/h (Tables 1 and 2).
Computer-Aided Wet-Spinning
107
depending on the instrument, fabrication software, and beaker
size used (see Note 9).
6. Fill the coagulation bath beaker with ethanol such that the
liquid level is at least 15 mm (see Notes 10 and 11).
7. Move the needle to X,Y coordinates out of the deposition area,
and set a Z coordinate value for the needle tip position of at
least 10 mm (see Note 12).
8. Start solution feeding at a flow rate of 4 mL/h (see Note 13).
9. When the extruded filament has a continuous and homogenous morphology, decrease the flow rate to 1 mL/h and wait at
least 10 s, checking that the filament flow is eventually stabilized (see Note 14).
10. Start the computer-controlled motion of the needle and the
construction platform (see Notes 15–17).
3.3 Post-fabrication
Treatment
1. Remove the samples from the coagulation bath, and place them
under a fume hood for 48 h (see Note 18).
2. Place the samples in a vacuum chamber for at least 16 h.
3. Store the samples in a desiccator.
4 Notes
1. The rapid prototyping system (MDX-40A; ROLAND DG Mid
Europe Srl, Ancona, Italy) modified in-house by replacing the
milling head unit with a syringe pump system (NE-1000; New
Era Pump Systems Inc., Wantagh, NY, USA) and fixing to the
construction platform a beaker containing the ethanol as coagulation bath [6] can be considered as a reference CAWS equipment (Fig. 2). In this case, the lay-down pattern for scaffold
production is either calculated using an algorithm developed in
MATLAB software (The MathWorks, Inc., Natick, MA, USA)
or directly written in G-code and then uploaded into the
equipment through the software VPanel for MDX-40A.
2. The prepared PCL solution is stable at room temperature. If
the temperature drops appreciably (e.g., during the night), the
solution can undergo gelation.
3. In order to fabricate PCL scaffolds with a fiber-to-fiber distance
of 1 mm (PCL80 1 and PCL80/HA 1 ), 0.5 mm staggered fiber
spacing between successive layers with the same fiber orientation is necessary [4]; in addition, in this case C is 10% w/v, V dep
300 mm/min, and F sol 1.4 mL/h (Tables 1 and 2).
Computer-Aided Wet-Spinning
107