Abstract
Oxygen supply is essential for the long-term viability and function of tissue engineered constructs in vitro and in vivo. The integration with the host blood supply as the primary source of oxygen to cells requires 4 to 5 weeks in vivo and involves neovascularization stages to support the delivery of oxygenated blood to cells. Consequently, three-dimensional (3D) encapsulated cells during this process are prone to oxygen deprivation, cellular dysfunction, damage, and hypoxia-induced necrosis. Here we demonstrate the use of calcium peroxide (CaO2) and polycaprolactone (PCL), as part of an emerging paradigm of oxygen-generating scaffolds that substitute the host oxygen supply via hydrolytic degradation. The 35-day in vitro study showed predictable oxygen release kinetics that achieved 5% to 29% dissolved oxygen with increasing CaO2 loading. As a biomaterial, the iterations of 0 mg, 40 mg, and 60 mg of CaO2 loaded scaffolds yielded modular mechanical behaviors, ranging from 5-20 kPa in compressive strength. The other controlled physiochemical features included swelling capacities of 22-33% and enzymatic degradation rates of 0.8% to 60% remaining mass. The 3D-encapsulation experiments of NIH/3T3 fibroblasts, L6 rat myoblasts, and primary cardiac fibroblasts in these scaffolds showed enhanced cell survival, proliferation, and function under hypoxia. During continuous oxygen release, the scaffolds maintained a stable tissue culture system between pH 8 to 9. The broad basis of this work supports prospects in the expansion of robust and clinically translatable tissue constructs.