Abstract
Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a natural polymer with properties suitable for tissue engineering and possible applications in scaffold production. However, current procedures have limitations in obtaining BC pellicles with the desired structural, physical, and mechanical properties. Thus, this study analyzed the optimal culture conditions of BC membranes and two types of processing: draining and oven-drying. The aim was to obtain BC membranes with properties suitable for a wound dressing material. Two studies were carried out. In the preliminary study, the medium (100 mL) was inoculated with varying volumes (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 mL) and incubated statically for different periods (3, 6, 9, 12, and 18 days), using a full factorial experimental design. Thickness, uniformity, weight, and yield were evaluated. In the optimization study, a Box–Behnken design was used. Two independent variables were used: inoculum volume (X1: 1, 3, and 5 mL) and fermentation period (X2: 6, 12, and 18 d) to determine the target response variables: thickness, swelling ratio, drug release, fiber diameter, tensile strength, and Young’s modulus for both dry and moist BC membranes. The mathematical modelling of the effect of the two independent variables was performed by response surface methodology (RSM). The obtained models were validated with new experimental values and confirmed for all tested properties, except Young’s modulus of oven-dried BC. Thus, the optimal properties in terms of a scaffold material of the moist BC were obtained with an inoculum volume of 5% (v/v) and 16 d of fermentation. While, for the oven-dried membranes, optimal properties were obtained with a 4% (v/v) and 14 d of fermentation.
Highlights
Bacterial cellulose (BC) has an array of physical, mechanical, and biological properties, such as swelling behavior [1,2], high tensile strength [1,3], high water-holding capability [2], high porosity [4], ultra-fine fiber network [1], biodegradability, non-toxic nature, and biocompatibility, which makes it a promising material in tissue engineering [5,6,7,8]
Both purified and unpurified pristine BC membranes were analyzed to assess the effectiveness of NaOH and NaOCl purification treatment
After computing the optimization analysis, our model suggested that the optimum conditions to obtain BC with appropriate properties for biomedical uses might be: X1: harvest day = 15.70, X2: inoculum volume = 5 mL, and X3: membrane type = moist, with a composite desirability = 0.60, when considering harvest intervals of 6 to 18 d, inoculum volumes of 1 to 5 mL, and moist or oven-dried types
Summary
Bacterial cellulose (BC) has an array of physical, mechanical, and biological properties, such as swelling behavior [1,2], high tensile strength [1,3], high water-holding capability [2], high porosity [4], ultra-fine fiber network [1], biodegradability, non-toxic nature, and biocompatibility, which makes it a promising material in tissue engineering [5,6,7,8]. Different methods and systems to produce BC have been analyzed, and many studies have dealt with the production of BC in the last decades [11,12,13,14,15] Their main aim was to increase BC productivity by obtaining different morphologies, structures, properties, and applications. They usually tried to increase the BC yield by employing experimental designs and statistical methods to optimize the type and proportion of culture media [13,15]. There seems to be a lack of studies that evaluated the simple inoculum volume—fermentation duration relationship in terms of their effect upon the biomedical properties of BC. It is not yet clear how these basic process parameters influence the uptake ability of BC
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