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NEWS
December 2025 ESRFnews
Sub-micron 3D imaging tests
orthopaedic scaf fold
functional mechanics of an enthesis
fascicle the researchers say Indeed
the property could be crucial for
developing grafts that resist tearing at
the junction one of the main reasons
why current surgical repairs often fail
Adv Funct Mater e11660
Our aim was to design this
naturally inspired metamaterial so
that ultimately it could be used to
promote the regeneration of enthesis
which is currently quite challenging
Sensini explains
Future work will test the scaffold
under the physiological loads
expected for in vivo implantation
The goal is to produce grafts that
integrate seamlessly with both soft
and hard tissues reducing failure rates
and improving rehabilitation
Using advanced X-ray imaging at
the ESRF, scientists have revealed in
3D how a new biomimetic scaffold
for a filament of the “enthesis”
bone–tendon junction deforms
under stress. The results show that
the scaffold absorbs forces in ways
similar to natural tissue, pointing to
more durable grafts for repairing this
vulnerable region.
The enthesis is the junction where
tendons or ligaments attach to
bone. It is a frequent weak point in
orthopaedic surgery, because repairs
often fail where materials of very
different stiffness must connect.
To tackle this, Alberto Sensini
at Maastricht University in the
Netherlands and colleagues created
scaffolds mimicking the natural
collagen filaments, known as
fascicles, that make up its graded,
rope-like structure. They made the
scaffolds by electrospinning and
then layering nanoscale polymer and
collagen fibres.
Using synchrotron multiscale
digital volume correlation at the
ESRF’s ID19 and ID16B beamlines,
the team mapped how these scaffolds
deform when loaded, down to the sub-
micrometre scale. “This digital volume
correlation study we’ve performed
is the first, worldwide, that is able to
describe and document the full-field
strain distribution of electrospun
nanofibres at the nanoscale during
a mechanical test,” say co-authors
Martijn van Griensven and Lorenzo
Moroni at Maastricht University.
The results showed distinctive
auxetic behaviour regions that
become thicker not thinner when
stretched Auxetic behaviour is
unusual because most materials get
thinner when pulled here regions
of the scaffold expanded sideways
under tension In natural tissues such
as skin and cartilage this effect helps
to spread loads more uniformly and
delay the onset of cracks
Seeing the same behaviour emerge in
the engineered scaffold suggests that its
ropelike fibre structure can reproduce
not just the composition but also the
A L B E R T O S E N S I N I
The engineered enthesis-fascicle scaffold consists of a rope-like bundle of nanoscale polymer and collagen
fibres Multiscale imaging at the ID19 and ID16B beamlines allow the researchers to map the strain of these
fibres as the scaffold is deformed in situ revealing that they become thicker not thinner when stretched just
like the natural tissue