Fabrication and Characterization of Polycaprolacton/ Gelatin/ Chitosan Scaffold by Dual Electrospinning Method

Document Type : Original Articles

Authors

• Seyed Mojtaba Zebarjad
• Mina Parnian

Department of Engineering Materials, Engineering Faculty, Shiraz University

10.22067/jmme.2024.84247.1123

Abstract

In the present study, a design for the construction of poly-caprolactone (PCL)/gelatin (GEL)/chitosan (CS) scaffolds has been proposed in order to increase performance in tissue engineering. The artificial polymer PCL is used to increase the mechanical properties of the scaffold, and two natural polymers GEL and CS are used as factors in the proliferation of cells. Polycaprolactone-gelatin-chitosan ternary composites with different weight ratios of polycaprolactone (70, 80, 90 and 60) were made by double-sided electrospinning method. The samples were cross-linked in glutaraldehyde vapor with 25% by weight. Microscopic evaluation indicates the proper formation of the composite. FTIR analysis confirmed the bonding between the components in the composite samples. Also, the results of the water contact angle test showed promotion the hydrophilicity of the PCL scaffold by adding gelatin and chitosan. So that the contact angle of pure PCL reaches from 98 degrees to about 22 degrees with the presence of gelatin and chitosan. The evaluation of degradability in phosphate buffered saline solution showed that the weight loss of the fabricated scaffolds occurs with the passage of time from 1 to 28 days for all scaffolds. Because of the nature of poly-caprolactone and gelatin-chitosan, the highest degradation rate after 28 days in gelatin-chitosan fibers is more than 50% and the lowest degradation rate related to the sample containing 70 wt% PCL is less than 23%.

Keywords

• Polycaprolacton
• Gelatin
• Chitosan
• Electrospinnin
• Scaffold

Main Subjects

• Biomaterials

---

References

[1] Cheng, F. Chen, K. Chen and J. Xua, "Advances in the application of hydrogel-based scaffolds for tendon repair", Genes & Diseases, pp. 101019, (2023). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gendis.2023.04.039.

[2] M. S. Baburaj, M. G. Veeran, D. Painuly, S. Sreelekshmi, R. J. Rajkumar and A. S. Aprem, " Fabrication and characterisation of polycaprolactone/gelatin/chitosan (PCL/GEL/CHI) electrospun nano-membranes for wastewater purification", Desalination, vol. 563, pp. 116709, (2023).  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2023.116709.

[3]  S. Gautam, S. D. Purohit, N. Chandra Mishra, "Surface modification of PCL-gelatin-chitosan electrospun scaffold by nano-hydroxyapatite for bone tissue engineering", Materials Today Communications, vol. 34, pp. 105237, (2023).https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtcomm.2022.105237

[4]    H. Homayoni, S. A. H. Ravandi, and M. Valizadeh, “Electrospinning of chitosan nanofibers: Processing optimization,” Carbohydrate Polymers, vol. 73, no. 3, pp. 656-661, (2009). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbpol.2009.02.008.

[5]    J. Jafari, S. H. Emami, A. Samadikuchaksaraei, M. A. Bahar, and F. Gorjipour, “Electrospun chitosan-gelatin nanofiberous scaffold: Fabrication and in vitro evaluation”, Bio-Medical Materials and Engineering, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 99-112, (2011). https://doi.org/10.3233/BME-2011-0660.

[6]    S. Gautam, C. F. Chou, A. K. Dinda, P. D. Potdar, and N. C. Mishra, “Fabrication and characterization of PCL/gelatin/chitosan ternary nanofibrous composite scaffold for tissue engineering applications”, Journal of Materials Science, vol. 49, no. 3, pp. 1079-1089, (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-013-7785-8.

[7]    Y. Zhang, H. Ouyang, T. L. Chwee, S. Ramakrishna, and Z. M. Huang, “Electrospinning of gelatin fibers and gelatin/PCL composite fibrous scaffolds”, Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B, vol. 72, no. 1, pp. 156-165, (2005). https://doi/10.1002/jbm.b.30128.

[8]    W. Yang, J. Fu, D. Wang, T. Wang, H. Wang, S. Jin and N. He, “Study on chitosan/polycaprolactone blending vascular scaffolds by electrospinning”, Journal of Biomedical Nanotechnology, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 254-259, (2010). https://doi.org/10.1166/jbn.2010.1123.

[9]    B. Dhandayuthapani, U. M. Krishnan and S. Sethuraman, “Fabrication and characterization of chitosan-gelatin blend nanofibers for skin tissue engineering,” Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B, vol. 94, no. 1, pp. 264-272, (2010). https://doi/10.1002/jbm.b.31651.

[10]  S. Haider, W. A. Al-Masry, N. Bukhari and M. Javid, “Preparation of the chitosan containing nanofibers by electrospinning chitosan-gelatin complexes”, Polymer Engineering and Science, vol. 50, no. 9, pp. 1887-1893, (2010). https://doi.org/10.1002/pen.21721.

[11]  Y. F. Qian, K. H. Zhang, F. Chen, Q. F. Ke and X. M. Mo, “Cross-linking of gelatin and chitosan complex nanofibers for tissue-engineering scaffolds,” Journal of Biomaterials Science, Polymer Edition, vol. 22, no. 8, pp. 1099-1113, (2011). https://doi/abs/10.1163/092050610X499447.

[12]  Y. Qian, Z. Zhang, L. Zheng, R. Song and Y. Zhao, “Fabrication and characterization of electrospun polycaprolactone blended with chitosan-gelatin complex nanofibrous mats”, Journal of Nanomaterials, vol. 2014, (2014). https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/964621.