Argon and Argon-Oxygen Plasma Surface Modification of Gelatin Nanofibers for Tissue Engineering Applications.

Abolfazl Mozaffari,Masoud Parsania,Mohammad Mirjalili,Mazeyar Parvinzadeh Gashti

doi:10.3390/membranes11010031

Abolfazl Mozaffari, Masoud Parsania + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11010031

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Abstract

In the present study, we developed a novel approach for functionalization of gelatin nanofibers using the plasma method for tissue engineering applications. For this purpose, tannic acid-crosslinked gelatin nanofibers were fabricated with electrospinning, followed by treatment with argon and argon–oxygen plasmas in a vacuum chamber. Samples were evaluated by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, contact angle (CA) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The biological activity of plasma treated gelatin nanofibers were further investigated by using fibroblasts as cell models. SEM studies showed that the average diameter and the surface morphology of nanofibers did not change after plasma treatment. However, the mean surface roughness (RMS) of samples were increased due to plasma activation. ATR-FTIR spectroscopy demonstrated several new bands on plasma treated fibers related to the plasma ionization of nanofibers. The CA test results stated that the surface of nanofibers became completely hydrophilic after argon–oxygen plasma treatment. Finally, increasing the polarity of crosslinked gelatin after plasma treatment resulted in an increase of the number of fibroblast cells. Overall, results expressed that our developed method could open new insights into the application of the plasma process for functionalization of biomedical scaffolds. Moreover, the cooperative interplay between gelatin biomaterials and argon/argon–oxygen plasmas discovered a key composition showing promising biocompatibility towards biological cells. Therefore, we strongly recommend plasma surface modification of nanofiber scaffolds as a pretreatment process for tissue engineering applications.

Highlights

Since the mid-1990s, researchers have considered the potential production and implementation of nanofibers in various engineering applications
scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) of tannic acid crosslinked nanofiber scaffolds before and after plasma process were assessed, and results are displayed in Figures 1 and 2
Argon–oxygen plasma can result in chemical etching by bond breakage, chain scission, chemical degradation and surface oxidation, while argon plasma is an inert process and can physically etch nanofibers by removal of low molecular weight fragments [23,24,25]

Summary

Introduction

Since the mid-1990s, researchers have considered the potential production and implementation of nanofibers in various engineering applications. Electrospinning has been able to generate continuous fibers with diameters ranging from submicron down to the nanometer. As one-dimensional materials, nanofibers and nanowires have been widely recognized in biomedical engineering due to the high surface area to volume ratio, nanoporosity, good absorption, biocompatibility, biodegradability, good breathability and mass transport properties [1,2,3,4]. Flexibility of electrospinning process allows fabrication of continuous nanofibers for a various range of applications, including electronics and energy, textiles and protective clothing, sensors, energy storage and filtration [5,6,7]. As one of the main biopolymers, has been widely researched in tissue engineering through facile and effective electrospinning procedures. The ease of spinnability of this biomacromolecule resulted in morphologically uniform nano-fibrous scaffolds [5]

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Results

Conclusion