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Influence of elastin on the properties of hybrid PCL /elastin scaffolds for tissue engineering
Author(s) -
SánchezCid Pablo,
PerezPuyana Victor,
JiménezRosado Mercedes,
Guerrero Antonio,
Romero Alberto
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.50893
Subject(s) - elastin , polycaprolactone , tissue engineering , polyester , extracellular matrix , scaffold , biopolymer , materials science , polymer , modulus , chemical engineering , wetting , biomaterial , biomedical engineering , chemistry , composite material , nanotechnology , biochemistry , medicine , pathology , engineering
Developing scaffolds by combining different polymers in order to improve the properties of the bare polymers has become an extensively applied practice. Polycaprolactone (PCL) is a synthetic polyester with outstanding properties for tissue engineering (TE), although it does have certain drawbacks that can be counteracted by combining it with other biopolymers. The biopolymer elastin is an essential functional component of the dermal extracellular matrix. Therefore, the aim of this work was to produce binary systems comprising a combination of PCL (16 wt/vol%) and different concentrations of elastin (2 and 4 wt/vol%) to evaluate how the protein affects the matrix. To this end, the morphological, physicochemical, mechanical and biological properties of the aforementioned scaffolds were further characterized, observing that PCL/elastin is a suitable mixture as it improves the wettability of PCL when combined with elastin (the contact angles were reduced from 102 to ca. 70°). In addition, mixing PCL with a small quantity of elastin (2%) improved the mechanical properties of PCL‐based scaffolds (Young's modulus increased from 36 to 69 MPa and the maximum stress increased from 11 to 34 MPa).