Abstract
Most of natural water-soluble polymers are difficult to electrospin due to their specific chain conformation in aqueous solution, which limits their applications. This study investigated the effects of polyethylene oxide (PEO) on the electrospinning of hyaluronic acid (HA) in HA/PEO aqueous solutions. The rheological properties of HA/PEO aqueous solutions showed polymer chain entanglement in HA was the essential factor affecting its electrospinnability. Wide-angle X-ray scattering and differential scanning calorimetry analyses of a PEO crystal showed different crystallization behavior of the PEO chain with different molecular weight, which indicates different interaction with HA. A schematic molecular model has been proposed to explain the effect of PEO on the chain conformation of HA along with the relationship between electrospinnability and chain entanglement. PEO with a relatively high molecular weight with limited crystal formation formed extensive chain entanglements with HA, while PEO with relatively low molecular weight weakened the interactions among HA chains. The findings of this study provide a wide perspective to better understand the electrospinning mechanisms of natural polyelectrolytes and usage in tissue engineering.
Highlights
Electrospinning has attracted considerable attention since the beginning of the 21st century as a simple and versatile method for manufacturing nanoscale structures in tissue engineering and biomedical field; for example, in neuronal and bone and tissue engineering [1,2,3,4]
The hyaluronic acid (HA) used in this study possessed a high molecular weight (Mw), electrospinning of the HA aqueous solutions remained difficult owing to the rigid chain conformation of HA
To improve the electrospinnability of the HA and to further investigate the molecular interactions and rheological effect, two types of water-soluble polyethylene oxide (PEO) with different Mws were added to the HA solutions
Summary
Electrospinning has attracted considerable attention since the beginning of the 21st century as a simple and versatile method for manufacturing nanoscale structures in tissue engineering and biomedical field; for example, in neuronal and bone and tissue engineering [1,2,3,4]. The properties of the spinning dope, including the polymer concentration, solvent volatility and elongational viscosity, play an important role in fiber formation during the electrospinning process [10,11]. HA molecules do not act as normal flexible polymers owing to the special structure and the extended hydrogen bonds in HA, as shown in Scheme 1 [15]. We investigated the effect thein water-soluble polymer polyethylene the electrospinnability of HA in aqueous solutions. The electrospinnability were investigated by adding two types of polyethylene oxides (PEOs) with different molecular weights (Mws) to aqueous solutions of HA. The entanglement model provides another way to determine the factors that affect the electrospinnability of polymers
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