Andamios elaborados mediante electrohilado a partir de mezclas de PCL y proteína con potencial aplicación en ingeniería de tejidos

Abstract

The electrospinning process is an emerging and relatively easy technique to prepare three-dimensional nanofiber membranes, consequently presenting a large surface area that makes them excellent candidates for several applications. Among them, regenerative medicine stands out because it can take advantage of the intrinsic properties of these nanofibrillar structures to promote cell adhesion and proliferation. These structures are obtained by injecting polymeric solutions (flow rate of 0.4 ml·h-1) of synthetic or natural polymers on a collector, applying a voltage of 15 kV. Polycaprolactone (PCL) was selected as synthetic polymer and collagen (Col) and gelatin (Gel) as natural polymers due to their biocompatibility and biodegradability. This project investigates the influence of the composition on the physicochemical and microstructural properties of the final membranes by adding protein (collagen or gelatin) to improve its applicability in the area of regenerative medicine, specifically, in tissue engineering. Thus, different PCL/protein systems were prepared and characterized by FTIR, water contact angle measurements and the images obtained by SEM microscopy. The results revealed that the addition of protein produced more hydrophilic membranes and with a smaller fiber size.