Preparation and Characterization of an Electrospun Polycaprolactone/Polyurethane Scaffold for Soft Tissue Applications

Abstract

In this study, a synthetic scaffold was prepared from polycaprolactone (PCL) and polyurethane (PU) blend, in a ratio of [2:1] [PCL: PU], using electrospinning technique. Electrospun scaffolds from native PCL and PU were also prepared for comparison, using the same polymer concentration 15% weight/ volume w/v. The detailed microstructure and other properties, like mechanical properties, porosity, and contact angle were investigated and compared between the three prepared scaffolds. Then, the survival, adhesion, proliferation and penetration of rat embryonic fibroblast (REF) cells were evaluated on these three prepared scaffolds after being in vitro cultured with these cells for 21 days, using scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis and histological analysis. The results showed that, all the studied properties, including mechanical properties and contact angle were enhanced by combining PU with PCL in the [PCL: PU] scaffold. The average diameter of fiber and the average size of pore were suitable and proper for cell attachment, cell proliferation, and also the big average pore size in [PCL: PU] scaffold was enough for cell penetration to form a three- dimension 3-D structure, which is the aim of this study.