Photocrosslinkable electrospun fiber meshes for tissue engineering applications

• Autor(a) principal: Ferreira, Paula
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Outros Autores: Santos, Patrícia, Alves, P., Carvalho, Marco António Paulo de, Sá, Kevin, Miguel, Sónia P., Correia, Ilídio Joaquim Sobreira, Coimbra, Patrícia Manuela Almeida
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.6/4702
• topic: Electrospinning; Photocrosslinking; Scaffolds; Haemocompatibility; Biocompatibility

Electrospun polymeric meshes are known to exhibit promising properties for the regeneration of several soft tissues. Herein, electrospun polymeric meshes were prepared from blends of polycaprolactone and functionalized gelatin. The meshes were then photocrosslinked under UV light using Irgacure® 2959 as the photoinitiator, aiming to improve membranes’ stability in biological fluids. Moreover, meshes suitability to be used as vascular grafts was evaluated by characterizing their chemical/physical properties as well as their haemo and biocompatibility in vitro. The obtained results show that the blended polymeric meshes are biodegradable and those with a higher content of gelatin display a lower water contact angle. Blood compatibility studies showed that the photocrosslinked membranes are haemocompatible, i.e. they display low values of thrombogenicity and do not trigger any haemolytic effect. Also, Normal Human Dermal Fibroblasts cells were incubated in the presence of the produced membranes and they were able to adhere and proliferate, thus revealing the biocompatibility of the photocrosslinked meshes.