Abstract
Despite many of the studies being conducted, the electrospinning of poly (lactic acid) (PLA), dissolved in its common solvents, is difficult to be continuously processed for mass production. This is due to the polymer solution droplet drying. Besides, the poor stretching capability of the polymer solution limits the production of small diameter fibers. To address these issues, we have examined the two following objectives: first, using an appropriate solvent system for the mass production of fibrous mats with fine-tunable fiber diameters; second, nontoxicity of the mats towards Neural Stem Cell (NSC). To this aim, TFA (trifluoroacetic acid) was used as a cosolvent, in a mixture with DCM (dichloromethane), and the solution viscosity, surface tension, electrical conductivity, and the continuity of the electrospinning process were compared with the solutions prepared with common single solvents. The binary solvent facilitated PLA electrospinning, resulting in a long lasting, stable electrospinning condition, due to the low surface tension and high conductivity of the binary-solvent system. The fiber diameter was tailored from nano to micro by varying effective parameters and examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and image-processing software. Laminin-coated electrospun mats supported NSC expansion and spreading, as examined using AlamarBlue assay and fluorescent microscopy, respectively.
Highlights
Porous polymeric structures with high porosity and interconnected pores have potential use in many biomedical applications [1,2,3] like protective fabrics, wound dressing [4] drug delivery [5,6,7], tissue engineering scaffolds [8, 9], and so on [10]
poly lactic acid (PLA) dissolved in chloroform, DCM, dimethyl formamide (DMF), and their mixtures in low concentration (2.7–3% (w/v)) produced droplets (Figure 1(a)) in the case of pure chloroform and beaded fibers with the rest of the above-mentioned solvent systems
According to cell morphology observation by fluorescence microscopy, cells were well spread on the mats (Figure 8). These results demonstrated that electrospun PLA fibers produced by TFA/DCM binary solvent are capable of supporting Neural Stem Cell (NSC) viability and proliferation in an appropriate culture condition
Summary
Porous polymeric structures with high porosity and interconnected pores have potential use in many biomedical applications [1,2,3] like protective fabrics, wound dressing [4] drug delivery [5,6,7], tissue engineering scaffolds [8, 9], and so on [10]. Among the various techniques developed for producing potential biomaterials for tissue engineering [11,12,13,14,15], electrospinning, being a simple, low-cost, and a potent method for manufacturing porous structures nanoscale polymer fibers, is the most suitable and versatile technique for the tissue engineering applications. The process parameters include the applied voltage, flow rate, tip to collector distance, BioMed Research International and collector geometry. By understanding these parameters and changing them, one can produce fibrous structures with various morphological, physical, and mechanical properties [19]
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