Abstract
Abstract One of the most focused-on point in biomedical and biotechnological research is the fabrication of complex tissue engineering scaffolds, with the ultimate objective being a functional, biocompatible and biodegradable implant that could facilitate and enhance tissue regeneration. Creating such implants is a highly challenging task. Physical and chemical characteristics have to be optimized and the balance between biodegradability, mechanical strength and overall practicality cannot be easily obtained. In this regard, composite materials have been regularly used in numerous areas of science and engineering as they incorporate advantages from two or more component materials. Our objective was to fabricate a composite, fibrous mesh composed of both degradable and non-degradable elements, that could be applicable as an implant with reliable mechanical properties without hindering in vivo tissue integration. In the manuscript, we present the fabrication, chemical, physical, mechanical and cytotoxic evaluation of co-electrospun polysuccinimide/poly(vinyl alcohol) (PSI/PVA) meshes. Results confirmed the presence and random distribution of both PSI and PVA fibres in the fabricated meshes. Mechanical studies indicate that meshes are competent for implantation while cell viability study revealed no cytotoxic effects.
Highlights
Tissue engineering is a multidisciplinary field aiming to regenerate damaged or replace lost tissues
We present the fabrication of co-electrospun composite polysuccinimide/poly(vinyl alcohol) (PSI/Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)) meshes, their physical and chemical characterization with scanning electron microscope (SEM), two-photon excitation microscopy (TPEM), and infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), their mechanical characterization and an examination of in vivo cell-mesh reactions with two different cell lines (A2058 melanoma and MeWo malignant melanoma cell line)
No issues were observed with either polymer during the coelectrospinning
Summary
Tissue engineering is a multidisciplinary field aiming to regenerate damaged or replace lost tissues. Physical systems namely biomaterials and tissue scaffolds which are directly implanted serving as a framework where the innate cells of the patient can adhere, proliferate and differentiate [3]. Tissue scaffolds can be fabricated using either natural/biological or synthetic materials with each one having its own advantages and disadvantages. Polymers, are very prominent materials for scaffold fabrication. Their synthesis is feasible with several methods (e.g. via thermal polycondensation, ring-opening polymerization, enzymatic polymerization), they have numerous possibilities for modifications (e.g. via curing, grafting, derivatization) and most of them have effective manufacturing methods (e.g. solution polycondensation, melt polycondensation) making polymers the most frequently used materials for the design and production of biomaterials [5]
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