Premium
Highly Biocompatible Nanofibrous Microspheres Self‐Assembled from Chitin in NaOH/Urea Aqueous Solution as Cell Carriers
Author(s) -
Duan Bo,
Zheng Xing,
Xia Zhixiong,
Fan Xiaoli,
Guo Lin,
Liu Jianfeng,
Wang Yanfeng,
Ye Qifa,
Zhang Lina
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.201412129
Subject(s) - chitin , nanofiber , aqueous solution , microcarrier , biocompatibility , chemical engineering , urea , microsphere , polymer chemistry , materials science , nanocellulose , chemistry , cellulose , nanotechnology , chitosan , organic chemistry , biochemistry , cell , engineering
In this work, chitin microspheres (NCM) having a nanofibrous architecture were constructed using a “bottom‐up” fabrication pathway. The chitin chains rapidly self‐assembled into nanofibers in NaOH/urea aqueous solution by a thermally induced method and subsequently formed weaved microspheres. The diameter of the chitin nanofibers and the size of the NCM were tunable by controlling the temperature and the processing parameters to be in the range from 26 to 55 nm and 3 to 130 μm, respectively. As a result of the nanofibrous surface and the inherent biocompatibility of chitin, cells could adhere to the chitin microspheres and showed a high attachment efficiency, indicating the great potential of the NCM for 3D cell microcarriers.