Preparation of electrospun nanofibrous polycaprolactone scaffolds using nontoxic ethylene carbonate and glacial acetic acid solvent system |
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Authors: | Yu Zhang Ismat Ullah Wancheng Zhang Hao Ou Marco Domingos Antonio Gloria Jinge Zhou Wenchao Li Xianglin Zhang |
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Affiliation: | 1. State Key Laboratory of Materials Processing and Die/Mould Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074 People's Republic of China;2. School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK;3. Institute of Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials, National Research Council of Italy, V.le J.F. Kennedy 54 - Mostra d'Oltremare Pad. 20, 80125 Naples, Italy;4. School of Mechatronics Engineering, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330000 People's Republic of China |
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Abstract: | In recent years, solution electrospinning has attracted the interest of researchers due to the possibility to design nanofibrous scaffolds with large surface area to volume ratios. Polycaprolactone (PCL), because of its biocompatibility and easy processability, has been widely used to develop electrospun structures for tissue engineering. However, the use of organic solvents and the poor PCL solution stability still hinder the development of the solution electrospinning process. The relatively benign glacial acetic acid (GAC) as a solvent of PCL was used to fabricate microfibrous fibers or beaded fibers. Thus, ethylene carbonate (EC) as a nontoxic assistant solvent was added to the PCL/GAC solution to successfully fabricate electrospun nanofibrous PCL scaffolds. The stability of the PCL/GAC/EC solution system was demonstrated as the viscosity, which showed no significant change during 48 h. The ultrafine PCL fiber diameter decreased as EC concentration was increased from 0 to 9 vol% and started to slightly increase when EC concentration increased beyond 9 vol%. MTT assay evidenced that MC3T3-E1 cells on the nanofibrous PCL scaffolds exhibited a better enhancement on cell proliferation. In summary, EC was added in PCL/GAC to establish a stable and low toxic solution electrospinning system, which provides promising strategy in tissue engineering field. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 137, 48387. |
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Keywords: | biomaterials electrospinning fibers polyesters |
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