Use of gum arabic to improve the fabrication of chitosan-gelatin-based nanofibers for tissue engineering

作者：Tsai Ruei Yi; Kuo Ting Yun; Hung Shih Chieh; Lin Che Min; Hsien Tzu Yang; Wang Da Ming; Hsieh Hsyue Jen^*

来源：Carbohydrate Polymers, 2015, 115: 525-532.

DOI：10.1016/j.carbpol.2014.08.108

• Electrospinning
• Chitosan
• Gelatin
• Gum arabic
• Viscosity
• Cytocompatibility

Current techniques for fabricating chitosan-gelatin-based nanofibers require the use of corrosive and expensive solvents. Our novel method, however, using gum arabic and a mild (20 wt%) aqueous acetic acid solution as solvent can produce a solution with much higher chitosan-gelatin content (16 wt%). Without gum arabic, which greatly decreases the viscosity of the solution, such an outcome was unachievable. The solution was utilized to prepare electrospun chitosan-gelatin-polyvinyl alcohol-gum arabic nanofibers with a weight ratio of 8:8:2:0.5 (C8G8P2A0.5 nanofibers), in which polyvinyl alcohol could stabilize the electrospinning process. The stability and tensile strength (2.53 MPa) of C8G8P2A0.5 nanofibers (mats) were enhanced by glutaraldehyde crosslinking. Furthermore, mesenchymal stem cells attached and proliferated well on the mat. The strength-enhanced and cytocompatible C8G8P2A0.5 mats are thereby suitable for tissue engineering applications. More importantly, we have created a less expensive and safer method (one not using hazardous solvents) to fabricate chitosan-gelatin-based nanofibers.

• 出版日期2015-1-22