Effect of Sterilization Methods on Electrospun Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) Fiber Alignment for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Medically approved sterility methods should be a major concern when developing a polymeric scaffold, mainly when commercialization is envisaged. In the present work, poly(lactic acid) (PLA) fiber membranes were processed by electrospinning with random and aligned fiber alignment and sterilized under UV, ethylene oxide (EO), and γ-radiation, the most common ones for clinical applications. It was observed that UV light and γ-radiation do not influence fiber morphology or alignment, while electrospun samples treated with EO lead to fiber orientation loss and morphology changing from cylindrical fibers to ribbon-like structures, accompanied to an increase of polymer crystallinity up to 28%. UV light and γ-radiation sterilization methods showed to be less harmful to polymer morphology, without significant changes in polymer thermal and mechanical properties, but a slight increase of polymer wettability was detected, especially for the samples treated with UV radiation. In vitro results indicate that both UV and γ-radiation treatments of PLA membranes allow the adhesion and proliferation of MG 63 osteoblastic cells in a close interaction with the fiber meshes and with a growth pattern highly sensitive to the underlying random or aligned fiber orientation. These results are suggestive of the potential of both γ-radiation sterilized PLA membranes for clinical applications in regenerative medicine, especially those where customized membrane morphology and fiber alignment is an important issue. AbstractMedical approved sterility methods should be a major concern when developing a polymeric scaffold, mainly when commercialization is envisaged. In the present work, PLA fibre membranes were processed by electrospinning with random and aligned fibre alignment and sterilized under UV, ethylene oxide (EO) and -radiation, the most common ones for clinical applications. It was observed that UV light and -radiation does not influence fibre morphology or alignment, while electrospun samples treated with EO lead to fibre orientation loss and morphology changing from cylindrical fibres to ribbon like structures, accompanied to an increase of polymer crystallinity up to 28%.UV light and -radiation sterilization methods showed to be less harmful to polymer morphology, without significant changes in polymer thermal and mechanical properties, but a slight increase of polymer wettability was detected, especially for the samples treated with UV radiation. In vitro results indicate that both UV and -radiation treatments of PLA membranes allow the adhesion and proliferation of MG 63 osteoblastic cells in a close interaction with the fibre meshes, and with a growth pattern highly sensitive to the underlying random or aligned fibre orientation. These results are suggestive of the potential of both -radiation sterilized PLA membranes for clinical applications in regenerative medicine, especially those where customized membrane morphology and fibre alignment is an important issue.

Fabrication of electrospun poly(lactic acid) nanoporous membrane loaded with niobium pentoxide nanoparticles as a potential scaffold for biomaterial applications

“…Some studies demonstrate that cells promote better adhesion on hydrophilic than hydrophobic surfaces (Areias et al, ; Ma, Gao, Gong, & Shen, ). However, PLA surfaces have demonstrated satisfactory results on cell growth and proliferation (Valente et al, ; Yao et al, ).…”

“…Biocomposite scaffolds with enhanced properties have attracted great attention for repairing and regenerating tissues. Tissue engineering has been widely studied to afford a better quality of life for people that need to repair or improve human organs and tissues (Valente et al, ). The electrospinning technique is a simple method that has been used in tissue engineering due to the possibility of manufacturing continuous porous nanofibers.…”

“…Its high surface area to volume ratio is very similar to the extracellular matrix (ECM) found in the human body (Cui, Zhou, & Chang, ). Electrospun membranes should present requirements such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, and suitable mechanical properties (Valente et al, ). The scaffold should not only be safe but also well functioning.…”

Layer‐by‐layer bioassembly of poly(lactic) acid membranes loaded with coculture of HBMSCs and EPCs improves vascularization in vivo

“…In some cases, biomaterials can release cytotoxic biomolecules in cell culture media while degrading: it could prevent cell attachment, proliferation, and differentiation (Bordenave, Chaudet, Bareille, Fernandez, & Amedee, 1999;Valente et al, 2016). In these cases, it's necessary to rinse biomaterials prior cell seeding.…”

3D Printer Generated Tissue iMolds for Cleared Tissue Using Single- and Multi-Photon Microscopy for Deep Tissue Evaluation

“…Tissue iMolds can be placed under UV light to sterilize, we recommend a duration of at least one hour [5]. …”