Polycaprolactone assisted electrospinning of honey/betel with chitosan for tissue engineering

Abstract

Electrospinning produces nanofibrous scaffolds, and the diameter of the nanofibers can be altered by tailoring the electrospinning parameters. Honey, betel loading on polymeric scaffolds has been used in tissue engineering applications. However, there are not many reports on electrospinning using betel extracts. In this study, electrospinning parameters for both honey/betel-loaded scaffolds have been optimized with 12% w/v polycaprolactone (PCL) solution. Further, electrospinning has been carried out by mixing the optimized honey/betel-loaded PCL solutions with a 2% w/v solution of chitosan in a 2:7 ratio. The results were also compared with the base CS/PCL scaffold. A solution of formic acid and acetone in the ratio of 4:6 was used for dissolving CS and PCL. The electrospinning parameters have been optimized for the static collector plate. Glutaraldehyde vapor crosslinking has been carried out on all the scaffolds utilizing the Schiff base reaction with an amine. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images revealed beadless, random oriented fibers for the optimized scaffolds. Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) has been performed on the scaffolds to identify the functional groups. The effect of glutaraldehyde crosslinking was not vivid through the FTIR study, and Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements were conducted in this regard. Enhancement in the melting point observed through DSC confirms the successful crosslinking. Contact angle measurement highlighted that honey-loaded scaffolds exhibited more hydrophilicity than betel-loaded scaffolds. Tensile strength measurement and water degradation studies have also been performed on the scaffolds. In vitro cell viability studies have been carried out with MTT assay utilizing Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). The scaffolds displayed excellent cell viability after 24 and 48 h. Hemocompatibility studies further identified its potential as tissue-engineered scaffolds.