Abstract
Bacterial cellulose is a remarkable fibrous structural component of biofilms, as it forms a mechanically strong hydrogel with high water adsorption capabilities. Additionally, bacterial cellulose is biocompatible and therefore of potential interest for skin regeneration and wound healing applications. However, bacterial cellulose produced through conventional production processes at water–air interfaces lack macroporosity control, which is crucial for regenerative tissue applications. Here we demonstrate a straightforward and efficient approach to form a macroporous bacterial cellulose foam by foaming a mannitol-based media with a bacterial suspension of Gluconoacetobacter xylinus. The bacterial suspension foam is stabilized with Cremodan as a surfactant and viscosified with Xanthan preventing water drainage. Further foam stabilization occurs through cellulose formation across the foam network. As bacterial cellulose formation is influenced by the viscosity of the growth media, we fine-tuned the concentration of Xanthan to allow for bacterial cellulose formation while avoiding water drainage caused by gravity. With this simple approach, we were able to design 3D bacterial cellulose foams without any additional processing steps. We argue that this templating approach can further be used to design foamy biofilms for biotechnological approaches, increasing the surface area and therefore the yield by improving the exchange of nutrients and metabolic products.
Highlights
Bacteria can survive and even thrive in diverse ecological niches from hot springs to cold glaciers because of their ability to adapt their metabolism to their environment.[1,2] To protect themselves from harsh living conditions, bacteria form biofilms using a diverse selection of biopolymers.[3]
bacterial cellulose (BC) is biocompatible and has been successfully implanted with no fibrotic tissue formation.[8]. This property makes the naturally formed structure of BC an excellent candidate for artificial skin products,[8] wound dressing,[9,10,11,12] surface patterned implants,[4] and blood vessels,[7,13] where cells have already shown noteworthy cell growth properties.[7,14]. Such selfgrown BC scaffolds have been formed by exploiting the biofilm formation at the water–air interface to create a 3D shape by using silicone-based molds,[15] hydrophobic surfaces,16,17 3D printing,[18] and emulsions.[19]
We developed a direct foaming technique of a bacterial suspension, which allows us to form a foamed BC network with controlled porosity
Summary
Bacteria can survive and even thrive in diverse ecological niches from hot springs to cold glaciers because of their ability to adapt their metabolism to their environment.[1,2] To protect themselves from harsh living conditions, bacteria form biofilms using a diverse selection of biopolymers.[3]. We achieve this by stabilizing the foam with a biocompatible surfactant (Cremodan) and a biocompatible thickener (Xanthan). As bacteria cellulose formation is limited by the viscosity of the growth media but foam stability is increased with viscosity of the growth media, we fine-tuned the concentration of Xanthan to allow for BC formation while preventing water drainage caused by gravity. 3D bacterial cellulose biofilms formed by foam templating PA Rühs et al.
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