Abstract
There is a need for synthetic substrates that replicate the natural environment for in vitro intestinal models. Electrospinning is one of the most versatile and cost-effective techniques to produce nanofibrous scaffolds mimicking the basement membrane topography. In this study, three different novel electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds made of a polycaprolactone (PCL), gelatin, and poloxamer 188 (P188) blend were produced and compared with PCL and PCL/gelatin fibers produced using the same solvent system and electrospinning parameters. Each polymer solution used in this experiment was electrospun at four different voltages to study its influence on fiber diameter. The morphology and physical characteristics of the fibers were studied using scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The average fiber diameter of all scaffolds was within 200–600 nm and no significant decrease in diameter with an increase in voltage was observed. Attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to determine the chemical characteristics of the nanofibrous scaffold. The conductivity of the polymer solutions was also analyzed. Biocompatibility of the scaffolds was determined by a cell proliferation study performed using colorectal carcinoma (Caco-2) cells. PCL/gelatin/P188 scaffolds exhibited higher cell proliferation compared to PCL, PCL/gelatin scaffolds, and the control (tissue culture multi-well plate) with PCL/gelatin/P188 80:10:10 sample showing the highest cell proliferation.
Highlights
IntroductionThe basement membrane (BM) is known to possess some barrier functionality (to cell and macromolecular migration), it is a relatively porous (pore size ~10–130 nm [2]) nanofibrous network mainly composed of a self-polymerizing network of collagen IV and laminin which are connected to one another by glycoproteins, namely nidogen and heparin sulphate proteoglycan [1,2,4,5]
The basement membrane (BM) is a specialized form of the extracellular matrix (ECM) present directly under the basal surface of epithelial and endothelial tissues of eumetazoans, where it supports and interacts with other components of the ECM and epithelial cells to promote cell proliferation, migration, and differentiation [1,2,3]. the BM is known to possess some barrier functionality, it is a relatively porous nanofibrous network mainly composed of a self-polymerizing network of collagen IV and laminin which are connected to one another by glycoproteins, namely nidogen and heparin sulphate proteoglycan [1,2,4,5]
Our study focused on the biomimicry of intestinal epithelial BM due to its relevance in drug and nutrient absorption/delivery studies, investigations on intestinal diseases, and infection studies [15,16,17,18]
Summary
The BM is known to possess some barrier functionality (to cell and macromolecular migration), it is a relatively porous (pore size ~10–130 nm [2]) nanofibrous network mainly composed of a self-polymerizing network of collagen IV and laminin which are connected to one another by glycoproteins, namely nidogen and heparin sulphate proteoglycan [1,2,4,5]. The structure, thickness, and composition of the BM differ with location and tissue type, healthy ageing, and disease [1,2,6,7] With respect to the latter, examples include asthma and collagenous colitis—a type of nonspecific inflammatory bowel disease which results in an increase of subepithelial BM thickness [8,9]. There is a growing interest to understand the barrier function of the BM due to advances in the mucosal
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