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Fabrication and characterization of chitosan‐gelatin blend nanofibers for skin tissue engineering
Author(s) -
Dhandayuthapani Brahatheeswaran,
Krishnan Uma Maheswari,
Sethuraman Swaminathan
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of biomedical materials research part b: applied biomaterials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.665
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 1552-4981
pISSN - 1552-4973
DOI - 10.1002/jbm.b.31651
Subject(s) - gelatin , nanofiber , chitosan , electrospinning , materials science , differential scanning calorimetry , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , miscibility , tissue engineering , scanning electron microscope , chemical engineering , ultimate tensile strength , polymer blend , polymer , polymer chemistry , composite material , morphology (biology) , biomedical engineering , chemistry , copolymer , organic chemistry , medicine , physics , engineering , thermodynamics , genetics , biology
Tissue engineering scaffolds produced by electrospinning feature a structural similarity to the natural extracellular matrix. Polymer blending is one of the effective methods to provide new and desirable biocomposites for tissue engineering applications. In this study chitosan was blended with gelatin and the effect of processing parameters of electrospinning and the solution properties of the polymer on the morphology of the fibers obtained were investigated. The morphology of the electrospun chitosan, gelatin and the chitosan‐gelatin blend were characterized using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The miscibility of the blend was determined using a SEM, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) Fourier transform Infrared spectrometer (FTIR). Further the tensile properties of the blend nanofibers were studied and compared with chitosan and gelatin fibers. In this study we have been able to electrospin defect‐free chitosan, gelatin and chitosan‐gelatin blend nanofibers with smooth morphology and diameter ranging from 120 to 200 nm, 100 to 150 nm, and 120–220 nm, respectively by optimizing the process and solution parameters. Chitosan and gelatin formed completely miscible blends as evidenced from DSC and FTIR measurements. The tensile strength of the chitosan‐gelatin blend nanofibers (37.91 ± 4.42 MPa) was significantly higher than the gelatin nanofibers (7.23 ± 1.15 MPa) ( p < 0.05) and comparable with that of normal human skin. Thus the novel chitosan‐gelatin blend nanofiber system has potential application in skin regeneration. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 2010.