Abstract
Poly(Ɛ-caprolactone) (PCL) is a biocompatible polymer with a high potential to be used in tissue engineering especially in tight tissues. In the current study, cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) is used as a promising method for immobilization of gelatin as a functional biomacromolecule on PCL nanofibrous substrates. The CAP surface modification leads to oxidation of chemical groups existing on the PCL surface without doing any damage to the bulk properties of biomaterials for gelatin biomacromolecule grafting. The water contact angle (WCA) of the CAP-treated surface and gelatin-grafted PCL using CAP indicates an effective increment in the hydrophilicity of the PCL surface. Also to achieve the highest levels of gelatin grafting on the PCL surface, two different grafting methods and gelatin concentration diversity are utilized in the grafting process. The immobilization of gelatin biomacromolecules onto the CAP surface-modified PCL nanofibers is investigated using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The gelatin-modified PCL substrates revealed uniform nanofibrous morphology with increased average fiber diameter. The results of FTIR spectra, including hydroxyl groups, NH groups, and amide II of gelatin-grafting peaks, confirm the gelatin immobilization on the surface of nanofibers. The metabolic activity of cultured mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on the surface-modified scaffolds is evaluated using MTT analysis (P ≤ 0.05). The results of metabolic activity and also SEM and DAPI staining observations indicate proper attachment on the surface and viability for MSCs on the surface-immobilized nanofibrous scaffolds. Therefore, CAP treatment would be an effective method for biomacromolecule immobilization on nanofibers towards the enhancement of cell behavior.
Highlights
IntroductionScaffolds, as crucial components, play a fundamental role (Lannutti et al 2007)
Tissue engineering is a promising approach for regenerating injured tissues
The results prove a better growth and attachment of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on gelatin-grafted PCL compared to untreated PCL and which is in a significant agreement with the MTT results
Summary
Scaffolds, as crucial components, play a fundamental role (Lannutti et al 2007). An ideal scaffold acts like an extracellular matrix (ECM) to provide a three-dimensional (3-D) structure with a controlled degradable rate for cell adhesion and proliferation as well as expressing a specific phenotype (Courtney et al 2006; Qi et al 2016). Selecting an appropriate scaffold is of the critical steps towards the successful tissue-engineered structure. Another challenging field is selecting the best technique for scaffold fabrication. Among various scaffold fabrication techniques in the realm of tissue engineering, electrospinning has attracted increased attention. Electrospinning may be utilized to fabricate nanofibrous
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