Abstract
The aim of this study is to demonstrate the feasibility of different functionalization methods for electrospun fibers developed using benign solvents. In particular three different approaches were investigated to achieve the functionalization of poly(epsilon caprolactone) (PCL) electrospun fibers with fibronectin. Protein surface entrapment, chemical functionalization and coaxial electrospinning were performed and compared. Moreover, bilayered scaffolds, with a top patterned and functionalized layer with fibronectin and a randomly oriented not functionalized layer were fabricated, demonstrating the versatility of the use of benign solvents for electrospinning also for the fabrication of complex graded structures. Besides the characterization of the morphology of the obtained scaffolds, ATR-FTIR and ToF-SIMS were used for the surface characterization of the functionalized fibers. Cell adhesion and proliferation were also investigated by using ST-2 cells. Positive results were obtained from all functionalized scaffolds and the most promising results were obtained with bilayered scaffolds, in terms of cells infiltration inside the fibrous structure.
Highlights
The electrospinning technique is a well-developed method for the fabrication of nano- and microfibers suitable for several applications in the biomedical field because such fibrous structures mimic the morphology of the extra cellular matrix (Braghirolli et al, 2014; Kishan and Cosgriff-Hernandez, 2017; Kitsara et al, 2017)
For what concerns the mechanical properties, poly(epsilon caprolactone) (PCL) DCM/MeOH samples had an average Young’s modulus of 3 ± 1 MPa, showing values comparable with PCL fibers obtained with standard solvents, as reported in literature (Croisier et al, 2012), but showing lower values respect to the PCL fibers obtained with benign solvents (Liverani and Boccaccini, 2016)
This difference could be due to the sub-optimized process parameters adapted from the literature (Doergens et al, 2015) which led to the fabrication of a thin layer of fibers, keeping constant the deposition time respect to the PCL AA
Summary
The electrospinning technique is a well-developed method for the fabrication of nano- and microfibers suitable for several applications in the biomedical field because such fibrous structures mimic the morphology of the extra cellular matrix (Braghirolli et al, 2014; Kishan and Cosgriff-Hernandez, 2017; Kitsara et al, 2017). Even though an official definition was not reported till benign solvents are mentioned for the chemical product design (Hada et al, 2013), roll-to-roll processing for flexible organic electronics (Roth et al, 2015) and synthesis of organic carbonates (Heyn, 2015). For most of those applications, the words “benign” and “green” are used as synonyms to identify solvents with the following characteristics: high boiling point, low Fibronectin Functionalized Electrospun Fibers vapor pressure, non-toxic, able to dissolve a great range of organic compounds, inexpensive and recyclable. An exception of the use of “benign” and “green” as synonyms is represented by the field of electrospinning, in which the definition of green electrospinning implies the use of emulsions and not solvents
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