Development of substrates for reconstructed human dermis based on polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) and FucoPol

• Autor(a) principal: Rafael, Ana Margarida Correia
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/120628
• topic: skin tissue engineering; PHA-based scaffolds; short chain length-medium chain length polyhydroxyalkanoates (scl-mcl-PHAs); poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate-co-3- hydroxyhexanoate) (P(HBHVHHx)); FucoPol; Domínio/Área Científica::Engenharia e Tecnologia::Engenharia Química

Skin tissue engineering represents an important tool in various fields such as cosmetic testing and regenerative medicine. The possibility of reproducing in vitro the fundamental properties of in vivo skin introduces new opportunities for creating knowledge. One of the techniques employed is the production of scaffolds to harbor cells, allowing for their proliferation and differentiation into functional tissues. These scaffolds must have certain characteristics, such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, appropriate physico-chemical and mechanical properties, ease of production and cost-effectiveness, all dependent on the material chosen. Thus, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) represent a potential scaffold material due to all of their relevant characteristics for biomedical applications. Also, the exopolysaccharide FucoPol can be incorporated with PHA as a blend or coating, possibly introducing bioactivity to the scaffolds. Therefore, the aim of this work was the production of scaffolds for reconstruction of human dermis, through the emulsion templating method, resulting in porous constructs that were tested with human dermal fibroblasts (HDFn). The scaffolds obtained in this work were based on P(HBHVHHx), a PHA composed of 51 wt% 3-hydroxybutyrate, 18 wt% 3-hydroxyvalerate and 31 wt% 3-hydroxyhexanoate, and had a porous structure with some interconnected pores. The scaffolds produced through emulsion with water had mechanical, thermal and physical properties comparable with the scaffolds produced through emulsion with FucoPol solution, both of them suitable for skin tissue engineering. These scaffolds were tested with HDFn to assess their bioactivity. In both the cells were able to adhere, proliferate and differentiate, showing possible extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition. The eight-day assay revealed increased cellular growth and organized ECM deposition in the scaffolds with FucoPol compared to the ones without. The fourteen-day assay confirmed pore geometry as the limiting factor for the full invasion of the scaffolds. This work demonstrated the potential of naturally derived P(HBHVHHx)/FucoPol scaffolds for the reconstruction of human dermis.