BIOPRINTED CELULLARIZED HYDROGELS FOR IN SITU SKIN REGENERATION

Funder

Organizational Unit

Publications

In situ crosslinked electrospun gelatin nanofibers for skin regeneration

Publication . Dias, J. R.; Baptista-Silva, S.; Oliveira, C. M. T. de; Sousa, A.; Oliveira, Ana L.; Bártolo, P. J.; Granja, P. L.

Due to its intrinsic similarity to the extracellular matrix, gelatin electrospun nanofibrous meshes are promising scaffold structures for wound dressings and tissue engineering applications. However, gelatin is water soluble and presents poor mechanical properties, which generally constitute relevant limitations to its applicability. In this work, gelatin was in situ crosslinked with 1,4-butanediol diglycidyl ether (BDDGE) at different concentrations (2, 4 and 6 wt%) and incubation time-points (24, 48 and 72 h) at 37 °C. The physico-chemical and biological properties of BDDGE-crosslinked electrospun gelatin meshes were investigated. Results show that by changing the BDDGE concentration it is possible to produce nanofibers crosslinked in situ with well-defined morphology and modulate fiber size and mechanical properties. Crosslinked gelatin meshes show no toxicity towards fibroblasts, stimulating their adhesion, proliferation and synthesis of new extracellular matrix, thereby indicating the potential of this strategy for skin tissue engineering.

2017Journal article

Open access

Biomechanical performance of hybrid electrospun structures for skin regeneration

Publication . Dias, J. R.; Baptista-Silva, S.; Sousa, A.; Oliveira, A. L.; Bártolo, P. J.; Granja, P. L.

Wound dressings made by electrospun nanofibers have been demonstrating great potential to regenerate skin tissue as compared to the conventional membrane products available in the market. Until today most of the developed dressings have only demonstrated the capability to regenerate the dermis or epidermis. In this study we propose new hybrid electrospun meshes combining polycaprolactone and gelatin. Several approaches, multilayer, coating and blend were stablished to investigate the most appropriate hybrid structure with potential to promote skin regeneration in its full thickness. The structures were evaluated in terms of physico-chemical properties (porosity, water vapor permeability, contact angle and swelling degree) and according to its mechanical and biological performance. Multilayer and blend structures demonstrated to fit most of native skin requirements. However, looking to all the performed characterization we considered multilayer as the most promising hybrid structures, due its high porosity which contributed to an ideal water vapor permeability rate and good mechanical and biological properties. Based on this multilayer structure is a promisor wound dressing.

2018Journal article

Open access