Fabrication of gelatin nanofibrous scaffolds using ethanol/phosphate buffer saline as a benign solvent

Abstract

Electrospinning of natural polymer nanofibers useful for biomedical applications often requires the use of cytotoxic organic solvents. In this study, gelatin nanofibers are electrospun from phosphate buffer saline/ethanol binary mixtures as a benign solvent at ambient temperature. The influences of ionic strength, ethanol concentration, and gelatin concentration on the electrospinnability of gelatin solutions and the fiber microarchitectures are analyzed. The electrospun scaffolds retain their morphologies during vapor-phase crosslinking with glutaraldehyde in ethanol and the subsequent removal of salts contained in the nanofibers via water rinsing. When fully hydrated, the mechanically preconditioned scaffolds display a Young's modulus of 25.5 ± 5.3 kPa, tensile strength of 55.5 ± 13.9 kPa, deformability of 160 ± 15%, and resilience of 89.9 ± 1.8%. When cultured on the gelatin scaffolds, 3T3 fibroblasts displayed spindle-like morphology, similar to the cell's normal morphology in a 3D extracellular matrix.

Gelatin and Collagen Nanofiber Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering

“…Among the most outstanding applications, we can see wound dressings, drug delivery systems, or tissue engineering scaffolds [4]. Animal polysaccharides such as chitosan, hyaluronic acid, heparin, and collagen have been studied with this technique; these compounds are natural biopolymers with numerous advantages for biomedical applications such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, nonantigenicity, and nontoxicity [5]. …”

Hemocompatibility of Poly(vinyl alcohol)–Gelatin Core–Shell Electrospun Nanofibers: A Scaffold for Modulating Platelet Deposition and Activation

“…22–23 Scaffolds composed of materials with dominant biological properties have high bioactivity but often have poor mechanical properties. 24–29 In contrast, synthetic polymer scaffolds have appealing mechanical properties; however, lack biological properties due to their insufficient cellular recognition sites. 24–27 Therefore, creation of composite fibers can combine the mechanical properties of the synthetic polymers and the biological properties of the natural polymer.…”

Novel electrospun gelatin/oxycellulose nanofibers as a suitable platform for lung disease modeling

“…The ATR-FTIR spectrum of pure gelatin nanofibers shows the absorption band at 1645 cm −1 representing the Amide I stretching vibrations, at 1535 cm −1 region corresponding to vibrations of Amide II and at both 1450 cm −1 and 1385 cm −1 belonging to the CH 2 scissoring and asymmetric bending of the CH 3 groups, respectively. Valence vibration of C-H bonds occurs at 1325 cm − 1 and Amide III shows at 1240 cm −1 [34,36,55]. ATR-FTIR spectra of CaOC and NaOC in powdered form are demonstrated in Fig.…”

“…Gelatin is biocompatible, biodegradable, with high water absorption and local hemostatic capacity [29,30], making it promising for regenerative medicine as a structural material for cell attachment either in the form of 3D flexible foams or nanofibers. Electrospinning of gelatin has been achieved using several different solvents starting from organic 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol [31], through formic and/or acetic acid [32,33], to recent preparation of gelatin nanofibers by Zha and coworkers [34] using "green chemistry" from ethanol/phosphate buffer saline mixture. Still, gelatin nanofibers dissolve in water so that they require crosslinking process to improve their hydrolytic stability along with enhancing their mechanical properties [35].…”