Comparative Study on Protein-Rich Electrospun Fibers for In Vitro Applications

Abstract

Electrospinning is the leading technology to fabricate fibrous scaffolds that mimic the architecture of the extracellular matrix of natural tissues. In order to improve the biological response, a consolidated trend involves the blending of synthetic polymers with natural proteins to form protein-rich fibers that include selected biochemical cues able to more actively support in vitro cell interaction. In this study, we compared protein-rich fibers fabricated via electrospinning by the blending of poly ε-caprolactone (PCL) with three different proteins, i.e., gelatin, zein, and keratin, respectively. We demonstrated that the peculiar features of the proteins used significantly influence the morphological properties, in terms of fiber size and distribution. Moreover, keratin drastically enhances the fiber hydrophilicity (water contact angle equal to 44.3° ± 3.9°) with positive effects on cell interaction, as confirmed by the higher proliferation of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) until 7 days. By contrast, gelatin and zein not equally contribute to the fiber wettability (water contact angles equal to 95.2° ± 1.2° and 76.3° ± 4.0°, respectively) due to morphological constraints, i.e., broader fiber diameter distribution ascribable to the non-homogeneous presence of the protein along the fibers, or chemical constrains, i.e., large amount of non-polar amino acids. According to in vitro experimental studies, which included SEM and confocal microscopy analyses and vitality assay, we concluded that keratin is the most promising protein to be combined with PCL for the fabrication of biologically instructive fibers for in vitro applications.

Silver Nanoparticle-Anchored Human Hair Kerateine/PEO/PVA Nanofibers for Antibacterial Application and Cell Proliferation

“…At 150–240 °C, the second endothermic peak indicated the evaporation of intermolecular water from the PEO/PVA and HHK-PEO/PVA nanofibers, which was the water bound in the polymers. The addition of HHK promoted the hydrophilicity of the fibers to enhance the endothermic peak [ 48 ]. However, the endothermic peak disappeared after the silver nitrate treatment, indicating that silver replaced the water molecules to interact with HHK, PEO and PVA.…”

Modification of a nitrocellulose membrane with nanofibers for sensitivity enhancement in lateral flow test strips

“…In addition, the electrospinning technology is a mature technology for preparing nano and micro ber membranes. The membranes have high porosity, large specic surface area and uniform diameter distribution, showing high application value in biomedical, 46,47 environmental engineering and textile elds. However, the traditional LFA method is different from this method in preparation process, so it has some shortcomings in regulating porosity, ow rate and protein loading.…”

Topographical and Biomechanical Guidance of Electrospun Fibers for Biomedical Applications

“…A large variety of electrospun fibers made of synthetic or natural polymers have been in vitro investigated [54]. However, the best results were univocally obtained in the case of bicomponent electrospun fibers formed by the combination of both synthetic and natural polymers to simultaneously reach desirable properties, in terms of mechanical strength and biocompatibility [18,[55][56][57].…”