Fabrication and Properties of Electrospun Collagen Tubular Scaffold Crosslinked by Physical and Chemical Treatments

Abstract

Tissue engineered scaffold was regarded as a promising approach instead of the autograft. In this study, small diameter electrospun collagen tubular scaffold with random continuous smooth nanofibers was successfully fabricated. However, the dissolution of collagen in concentrated aqueous (conc. aq.) acetic acid caused to the serious denaturation of collagen. A novel method ammonia treatment here was adopted which recovered the collagen triple helix structure according to the analysis of IR spectra. Further dehydrothermal (DHT) and glutaraldehyde (GTA) treatments were applied to introduce the crosslinks to improve the properties of collagen tube. The nanofibrous structure of collagen tube in a wet state was preserved by the crosslinking treatments. Swelling ratio and weight loss decreased by at least two times compared to those of the untreated collagen tube. Moreover, tensile strength was significantly enhanced by DHT treatment (about 0.0076 cN/dTex) and by GTA treatment (about 0.075 cN/dTex). In addition, the surface of crosslinked collagen tube kept the hydrophilic property. These results suggest that DHT and GTA treatments can be utilized to improve the properties of electrospun collagen tube which could become a suitable candidate for tissue engineered scaffold.

Current hydrogel advances in physicochemical and biological response-driven biomedical application diversity

“…Electrospinning scaffold has been widely used for biomedical applications, such as tissue engineering, drug delivery, etc. 122 Researchers have reported a series of electrospun polyaniline–gelatin fiber scaffolds for cardiac tissue engineering, and these scaffolds could promote the adhesion and proliferation of cardiac myoblasts. 123 In addition, the polymer nanofibers obtained via electrospinning could be weaved into surfaces, and these coated surfaces could serve as substrates to study cell responses to variable underlying topographies and chemistry surfaces.…”

Hydrogels for Tissue Engineering: Addressing Key Design Needs Toward Clinical Translation

“…Chemical crosslinking with GTA has also been explored in comparison to the physical crosslinking method of dehydrothermal treatment (DHT) for fabricating an electrospun collagen scaffold ( Chen et al, 2021 ). The triple helix in the collagen fibers was better maintained when using chemical crosslinking methods, with the use of GTA avoiding the need for heat application as is required with the DHT method ( Chen et al, 2021 ). Ammonia treatment of the collagen electrospun scaffold after fabrication to neutralize any remaining acetic acid further improved maintenance of the triple helix collagen structure in the fibers ( Chen et al, 2021 ).…”

A Review on Current Nanofiber Technologies: Electrospinning, Centrifugal Spinning, and Electro‐Centrifugal Spinning

“…Relative humidity of ≈30-50% and room temperature of ≈15-25 °C are recommended for general electrospinning; [57] however, protein-based polymer like collagen needs low spinning temperature to resist thermal denaturation. [58] Melt electrospinning [59] is the other main type of electrospinning, as illustrated in Figure 3b. The melt electrospun fibers are generally larger than the solution electrospun fibers due to the lower conductivity and the higher viscosity of polymer melt.…”