Fabrication and characterization of P(3HB-co-4HB)/gelatine biomimetic nanofibrous scaffold for tissue engineering application

Abstract

This study focussed on developing a hybrid P(3HB-co-4HB)/gelatine nanofibre with an enhanced wettability and biocompatibility properties while retaining its desired properties as biodegradable patch for tissue engineering application through electrospinning technique. Both copolymer and gelatine were individually optimized for its concentration, process parameter and voltage. Upon optimization, two versions of hybrid P(3HB-co-4HB)/gelatine nanofibre scaffolds were prepared by layering the copolymer and gelatine, namely PG (double - layer) and PGP (triple - layer). These hybrid scaffolds produced were further crosslink using glutaraldehyde vapour and were characterized for its fibre morphology, wettability, chemical and biological properties. The nanofibre diameter obtained was in between 330 nm to 250 nm for P(3HB-co-4HB) and both hybrid P(3HB-co-4HB)/gelatine. The expression of amino acid, carbonyl group and presence of glutaraldehyde on nanofibre was detected using ATR-FTIR analysis. The PG shows to exhibit better hydrophilic property compared to PGP and P(3HB-co-4HB). However, based on the stability testing was carried out, it revealed that PG has low solution stability compared to PGP which indicates PGP nanofibre scaffolds reaffirms a good water-resistant property. Meanwhile, the MTS assay has shown that mouse fibroblast cell L929 proliferated well on both PG and PGP compared to pure P(3HB-co-4HB) nanofibre scaffolds, evidenced by an increased cell number from 3.04 × 105 cells/mL to 3.37 × 105 cells/mL. The results have collectively shown the incorporation of small amount of fish gelatine has improved the overall properties of hybrid nanofibre scaffolds. The PGP shows the potential candidates for medical application due to its stability property in solution and has comparable property with PG.