In vitro degradation and cytocompatibility evaluation of novel soy and sodium caseinate-based membrane biomaterials

Soy- and casein-based membranes are newly proposed materials disclosing a combination of properties that might allow for their use in a range of biomedical applications. Two of the most promising applications are drug delivery carrier systems and wound dressing membranes. As for all newly proposed biomaterials, a cytotoxic scanning must be performed as a preliminary step in the process of the determination of the compatibility with biological systems (biocompatibility). In this study, the cytotoxicity of both soy- and casein-based protein biomaterials has been evaluated and correlated with the materials degradation behavior. It was possible to show, through morphological and biochemical tests that these natural origin materials do not exert any cytotoxic effect over cells, and in some cases can in fact enhance cell proliferation. The different treatments to which the membranes were subjected during their processing (that include crosslinking with glyoxal and tannic acid, and physical modification by thermal treatment) seemed to have a clear effect both on the materials mechanical properties and on their in vitro biological behavior.