Figure 1

Tissue culture of expanded AF cells in 3D scaffolds. Expanded AF cells showed a stretched, fibroblastic morphology when cultured in monolayers up to passage 3 (A). AF cells were embedded in PGA-PLGA-PVDF scaffolds (B) and maintained viability (green staining) after 7 (C) and 21 days (D) of tissue culture. At day 7, some dead cells (C, white arrowheads) were evident. Absorbable scaffold fibers (C, white double arrowhead) showed signs of degradation as early as day 7 and took the red propidium-iodide dye (red staining). The non-absorbable PVDF fibers took no dye and showed a dark blue color (C, white arrows).