Investigating the effect of PGA on physical and mechanical properties of electrospun PCL/PGA blend nanofibers

Abstract

In the field of tissue engineering there is always a need for new engineered polymeric biomaterials which have ideal properties and functional customization. Unfortunately the demands for many biomedical applications need a set of properties that no polymers can fulfill. One method to satisfy these demands and providing desirable new biomaterials is by mixing two or more polymers. In this work, random nanofibrous blends of poly (e-caprolactone) (PCL) and polyglycolic acid (PGA) with various PCL/PGA compositions (100/0, 80/20, 65/35, 50/50, and 0/100) were fabricated by electrospinning method and characterized for soft-tissue engineering applications. Physical, chemical, thermal, and mechanical properties of PCL/PGA blend nanofibers were measured by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), porosimetry, contact angle measurement, water uptake, attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FT-IR), Xray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetric (DSC), dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA), and tensile measurements. Morphological characterization showed that the addition of PGA to PCL results in an increase in the average diameter of the nanofibers. According to these results, when the amount of PGA in the blend solution increased, the hydrophilicity and water uptake of the nanofibrous scaffolds increased concurrently, approaching those of PGA nanofibers. Differential scanning calorimetric studies showed that the PCL and PGA were miscible in the nanofibrous structure and the mechanical characterization under dry conditions showed that increasing PGA content results in a tremendous increase in the mechanical properties. In conclusion, the random nanofibrous PCL/PGA scaffold used in this study constitutes a promising material for soft-tissue engineering.

Nanofibrous composite scaffolds of poly(ester amides) with tunable physicochemical and degradation properties

“…PCL is a semicrystalline thermoplastic polyester with hydrophobic properties, slow degradation profile (over years) and poor cell attachment [6,27,37]. However, solubility in most common organic solvents and ease of processability into electrospun fibrous scaffolds has led to its widespread use in electrospinning.…”

“…In this combination, PCL is a slowly degrading polymer and follows acid or base-catalyzed bulk degradation mechanism [37]. APS has been shown to degrade by hydrolysis in vivo via hydrolases, esterases and proteases, and the crosslinking degree plays a significant role in its degradation [33].…”

“…Earlier, there have been lot of studies showing that the cell attachment and viability can be improved using polymer blends or nanoparticles [6,24,26,27,54]. PCL is a hydrophobic polymer that exhibit poor cell attachment [27,37]. Previous studies on APS have shown good cell viability and adhesion on thermally cured APS films [32].…”

Optimizing parameters on alignment of PCL/PGA nanofibrous scaffold: An artificial neural networks approach

“…However, hydrophobic nature of PCL is a disadvantage limiting its application in tissue engineering because of poor wettability, lack of cell attachment, and uncontrolled biological interactions with the material. One approach to rectify this issue is blending PCL with other polymers such as collagen, gelatin, and PGA [31,32].…”

“…In the present study, the polymer blend of PCL/PGA was selected because this blend display better biocompatibility and hydrophilicity as well as mechanical properties than the polymers alone [31,32] especially for tissue engineering purposes. PCL is a biocompatible and biodegradable polymer and is widely used as electrospun material for fabricating tissue-engineering scaffolds [32].…”