Multifactorial Effects of Gelling Conditions on Mechanical Properties of Skin-Like Gelatin Membranes Intended for In Vitro Experimentation and Artificial Skin Models

Abstract

The development of new cosmetic products, skin contact medical devices, skin medicaments, wound care devices, tattooing and piercing has experienced an impressive growth in recent years. In parallel, new restrictions to in vivo experimentation in animals and humans have been widely implemented by regulatory authorities. New knowledge about alternative materials for in vitro skin-related experimentation is required to overcome these severe limitations. This paper presents a set of three 4-D surface response equations describing the mechanical properties of skin-like gelatin membranes intended for use as an alternative biomaterial for in vitro skin-related experimentation. The membranes were obtained by a sol-gel method. The novelty of this contribution is the establishment of the cross-dependency effects of key synthesis conditions on the final mechanical properties of gelatin membranes. The results of this work are useful to produce gelatin membranes with tailored mechanical properties mimicking different types of human skins. In particular, membranes with Young’s modulus of 1 MPa and maximum tensile strength of 0.85 MPa were obtained.

Fractional viscoelastic models of porcine skin and its gelatin-based surrogates

“…Among them gelatin, a natural polymer extracted from collagen, is a promising candidate owing to its biocompatibility and mechanical properties tailorable through concentration and chemical crosslinking. Therefore, gelatin has been used in a number of biomedical applications (Alarcon-Segovia et al, 2021;Auger et al, 1995) including a component in additive technology of 3D printing of human skin (Jin et al, 2021). Its mechanical properties can be further improved through crosslinking, which is most frequently performed using glutaraldehyde (GTA) due to its easy availability and inexpensiveness (Bigi et al, 2001).…”

Hyperthermic triggers for drug delivery platforms

“…nHG materials were prepared according a modified sol-gel method [26]. These materials were designed to develop mechanical properties mimicking those of skin and connective tissues [26].…”

“…nHG materials were prepared according a modified sol-gel method [26]. These materials were designed to develop mechanical properties mimicking those of skin and connective tissues [26]. First, a stock solution was prepared by dissolving 12.5 g of gelatin and 6.5 g of glycerol in 376 g of water.…”

Prospects of Coffee Leaf against SARS-CoV-2 Infection

“…According to a report by Alarcón-Segovia et al [36], 2.5 g gelatin from bovine skin (Sigma-Aldrich, USA) with glycerol and MilliQ water in a 12-well culture plate into a thickness of 1-2 mm were maturated 15 minutes as forming polymer. 5 μl of 100 μg/ml coffee leaf (Coffea Arabica) extract, 75% (weight/weight [w/w]) Ethanol, or H2O (control) were applied separately on skin-like gelatin membranes at room temperature from 15 minutes to 1 hour and added into 2 μl pseudo-viral particles (MOI=0.2) for 2 hours.…”