Biocompatible porous material templated from gliadin particle and gellan gum co-stabilized wet foam

Abstract

Porous materials have gained significant attention in diverse fields due to their potential applications. This study presents a feasible method to produce biocompatible porous materials using wet foam as a template. The synergistic effects of gliadin particles (GP) and gellan gum (GG) significantly hindered the drainage of liquid and the aging of bubbles in wet foam, specifically, GPs exhibited excellent foaming capacity and provided Pickering stabilization, and GG formed a gel network within the continuous phase upon cooling facilitating the fast capture of bubbles. Besides, these wet foams exhibited exceptional stability for duration of up to 84 days after preparation. Furthermore, these GPs-GG wet foams were used as templates enabling the production of porous materials, which exhibited micron-sized porosities ranging from 84.3% to 93.4%, with average pore sizes varying from 5.0 μm to 156.9 μm. Moreover, the average pore diameter could be easily adjusted by altering the concentrations of GPs and GG. These porous materials displayed non-cytotoxic properties and demonstrated favorable mechanical performance and exceptional water absorption capacity. Furthermore, their highly open and interconnected pore structures promoted cell growth and facilitated the proliferation of HaCaT cells from the material's surface to its interior after 1 week of culture. This study thus showcases a straightforward and feasible method for fabricating macroporous materials using biocompatible components. The potential applications of these materials, particularly in the fields of cell-cultured meat, biotechnology and biomedicine, are highly promising.