Electrospun Skin Tissue Engineering Scaffolds Based on Polycaprolactone/Hyaluronic Acid/L-ascorbic Acid

Abstract

Skin tissue engineering is an evolving method to reconstruct skin damages caused by disease, burn or trauma. In skin tissue engineering, scaffolds should prepare three-dimensional structure for skin cells. Electrospinning technique has been widely applied for producing nano/micro-scale fiber scaffolds in tissue engineering. In this study, electrospun scaffolds based on polycaprolactone (PCL) and hyaluronic acid (HA) containing L-ascorbic acid (AA) were fabricated. Morphology, contact angle, functional groups, biodegradability and drug release of the scaffolds were evaluated. L929 fibroblast cells seeded on nanofibrous scaffolds and cell attachment and viability were evaluated as well. According to the results, the fibers diameter were less than 180 nm and by adding hyaluronic acid, the hydrophilicity of scaffolds increased and degradation rate was adjusted. The encapsulation efficiency and successful release of ascorbic acid in nanofibrous scaffolds were demonstrated. According to the results, the cell growth, proliferation and adhesion of L929 fibroblast cells on the PCL/HA/AA scaffolds were enhanced in comparison with the PCL scaffold. Moreover, PCL/HA (80:20) containing 40 mg of AA nanofibrous scaffold could be potentially applied for skin tissue engineering.