Gelatin (GE) is a renewable biopolymer with abundant
active groups
that are beneficial for manufacturing functional biomaterials via
GE modification. An antibacterial fibrous GE film was prepared by
electrospinning the modified GE in an aqueous solution. The original
GE was modified by reacting it with N,N-dimethyl epoxypropyl octadecyl ammonium chloride (QAS), and then
it was cross-linked with transglutaminase (TGase). FTIR analysis illustrated
that QAS was grafted onto GE through the epoxy ring-opening reaction,
and the modification did not influence the main GE skeleton structure.
The investigation of the solution properties showed that the grafted
cationic QAS group was the main factor that decreased the surface
tension of the solution, increased the electrical conductivity of
the solution, and endowed GE with antibacterial activity. TGase cross-linking
clearly influenced the rheological properties such that the flow pattern
of the spinning solution varied from Newton-type to shear thinning,
and the aqueous solution of GE-QAS-TGs transformed from liquid-like
to solid-like and even induced gelatinization with increasing TGase
content. A satisfactory fibrous morphology of 200–500 nm diameter
was obtained using a homemade instrument under the optimized electrospinning
conditions of a temperature of 35 °C, a distance between electrodes
of 12 cm, and a voltage of 15 kV. The study of film properties showed
that the antibacterial activity of the fibrous GE film depended only
on the grafted quaternary ammonium, whereas the thermostability, wettability,
and permeability were greatly influenced by both the TGase cross-linking
and film-forming methods. Cytotoxicity was tested using the CCK-8
and live/dead kit staining methods in vitro, which showed that the
modified GE had good biocompatibility.
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