Nanofibers were sputter-coated with a layer of gold approximately 60 nm in thickness using a Polaron sputter coater (SC510; Quorum Technologies, East Grinstead, UK). The samples were examined in an Aquasem (Tescan, Brno, Czech Republic) scanning electron microscope (SEM) in secondary electron mode at 15 kV.
The electrospun scaffolds were characterized in terms of fiber diameter and pore size using mathematical stereological methods, as described in detail in Mickova et al.30 (link) Briefly, the stereological parameters were measured from arbitrarily selected sections of the SEM images, using Ellipse software (version 2001; ViDiTo, Košice, Slovakia). The distribution of the fiber diameters and pore sizes were determined quantitatively from 200 measurements.
The electrospun scaffolds were characterized in terms of fiber diameter and pore size using mathematical stereological methods, as described in detail in Mickova et al.30 (link) Briefly, the stereological parameters were measured from arbitrarily selected sections of the SEM images, using Ellipse software (version 2001; ViDiTo, Košice, Slovakia). The distribution of the fiber diameters and pore sizes were determined quantitatively from 200 measurements.