Abstract
3D nanofibrous chitosan-polyethylene oxide (PEO) scaffolds were fabricated by electrospinning at different processing parameters. The structural characteristics, such as pore size, overall porosity, pore interconnectivity, and scaffold percolative efficiency (SPE), were simulated by a robust image analysis. Mouse fibroblast cells (L929) were cultured in RPMI for 2 days in the presence of various samples of nanofibrous chitosan/PEO scaffolds. Cell attachments and corresponding mean viability were enhanced from 50% to 110% compared to that belonging to a control even at packed morphologies of scaffolds constituted from pores with nanoscale diameter. To elucidate the correlation between structural characteristics within the depth of the scaffolds' profile and cell viability, a comparative analysis was proposed. This analysis revealed that larger fiber diameters and pore sizes can enhance cell viability. On the contrary, increasing the other structural elements such as overall porosity and interconnectivity due to a simultaneous reduction in fiber diameter and pore size through the electrospinning process can reduce the viability of cells. In addition, it was found that manipulation of the processing parameters in electrospinning can compensate for the effects of packed morphologies of nanofibrous scaffolds and can thus potentially improve the infiltration and viability of cells.
Highlights
In tissue regeneration, many attempts have been made to explore the material properties and processing methods possessing the highest biomimicry with native tissues
The results obtained from MTT assay revealed that the chitosan/polyethylene oxide (PEO) scaffolds produced are not cytotoxic, because the mean relative absorbance and mean cell viability are higher than half of the value attributed to the control sample
The structural characteristics such as pore size, porosity, pore interconnectivity, and scaffold percolative efficiency were simulated by image analysis
Summary
Many attempts have been made to explore the material properties and processing methods possessing the highest biomimicry with native tissues. Biocompatible nanofibrous membrane fabricated by the electrospinning process has been addressed in many literatures as a potential candidate for tissue scaffolds [3, 7,8,9,10,11,12] and drug carrier mediums [13,14,15,16]. The cellular viability is correlated with the degree of infiltration and attachment of cells within the fibrous matrix. In both in vitro and in vivo systems, regardless of the different aspects
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