Fabrication, Modification And Characterization Of Electrospun Fibrin-Based Nanofibers

It is well known that natural polymer have good biocompatibility as tissue engineering scaffolds,which have received tremendous attention in the field of tissue engineering and tissue regeneration.Fibrin is a kind of common-used natural protein produced from blood clotting;it can be extracted from blood plasma that render it a favorable biocompatibility and suitable for cell adhesion and ingrowth.Therefore,fibrin-based materials have potential application in tissue engineering and tissue regeneration areas.Electrospinning is a feasible and effective method to fabricate nanofibers.Due to high specific area and high porosity,electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds have capability to mimic the architecture and biological function of extracellular matrix(ECM).The objective of this study is to develop an effective scaffold with good biocompatibility and improved mechanical property for biomimmicking the structrure and function of ECMs. Fibrin-based nanofibers with different polymer concentration were fabricated by electrospinning technique.Howerer,the resulting fibrin-based nanofibous scaffolds could not meet the requirement of clinical applications due to their extremely hydrophilicity and the poor mechanical strength.Therefore,the composite nanofibers and modified fibrin-based nanofibers were investigated for the purpose of improving their mechanical properties and biodegradability.In this study,fibrinogen was electrospun successfully into nanofibrous scaffolds.Genipin vapor,glutaraldehyde vapor and ethanol vapor were used to crosslink fibrinogen nanofibrous mats rather than conventional method,in which the samples were immersed into the crosslinking agents. Ethanol was used as control group.The morphologies,crystal structure,thermal stability,chemical structure,hydrophilic property,mechanical properties and biocompatibility were investigated.The results indicated that the mechanical properties increased after crosslinking,especially for the samples crosslinked by Genipin vapor.Additionally,the fibrin/P(LLA-CL) composite mats showed the better mechanical properties at the weight ratio of 40:60 and 60:40.The adhesion and proliferation of fibroblast on crosslinked nanofibrous mats had no significant difference to blended electrospun mats.Thus,fibrin is a versatile biopolymer,which shows a great potential in tissue engineering applications.