Electrospinning of polymer fibers as potential scaffold for skin regeneration

Abstract

Tissue engineering is an approach to reconstitute and regenerate lost or damaged tissue and biomaterials play a pivotal role in this approach. Construction of biocompatible scaffolds is one of the leading areas of research in tissue engineering and significant research is based on the creation of scaffolds that mimic both the structure and function of the native extracellular matrix. Poly (propylene carbonate), an aliphatic polycarbonate composed of carbon dioxide and propylene epoxide, was electrospun using N, N dimethyl acetamide as solvent. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) exhibited fibers of diameter ranging from nano to submicron dimensions. The fibers were further characterized using Attenuated total refelection-Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and thermal analysis of the obtained fibers confirmed the competent thermal stability of fibers for tissue engineering applications. In order to enhance the tensile properties and biocompatibility, PHB was blended with gelatin at different compositions and electrospun using 1,1,1,3,3,3 hexaflouro-2-propanol as solvent. To attain uniform coating of gelatin over PHB coaxial electrospinning was adopted. Cross linking of blended and coaxial fibers were achieved using glutaraldehyde and the resultant fibers were tested and further analyzed using scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, wide angle X-ray diffraction and ATR-FTIR. The fibers were found to exhibit competent tensile properties. Degradation studies performed and analyzed using SEM and ATR-FTIR proved the stability of fibers for tissue engineering applications. The fibrous scaffold supported the growth and rapid proliferation of human dermal fibroblasts and keratinocytes with normal morphology thus proving its reliability in using it as a potential scaffold for skin regeneration. In comparison, coaxially electrospun fibers exhibit better potential as dermal substitute than the rest of the developed scaffolds. newline newline newline