Study On Crosslinked Chitosan Membranes Used For Melanocyte Culture And Transplantation

Vitiligo is a common skin disease with acquired localized or generalized depigmentation. Its worldwide incidence is0.5-4%. Although vitiligo is not fatal, it might result in a series of psychological and skin diseases. Patients are more vulnerable to the skin cancer. In recent years, the development of biocompatible membranes for human melanocyte culture provides an alternative approach for vitiligo treatment. It requires the membranes to possess good mechanical strengths for transplantation and act as an efficient wound dressing in addition to supporting melanocytes growth. Therefore, it’s a great challenge to design and prepare such membranes.In this study, chitosan was used to prepare crosslinked membranes due to its biocompatibility. The crosslinked chitosan membranes comprised:1) crosslinked chitosan/poly ethylene glycol (PEG) membranes (CCGM) which were made via physical crosslinking with sodium sulfate;2) crosslinked membranes of modified chitosan (CMMC) which were produced via the copolymerization of a modified chitosan with polyethylene glycol methacrylate and triethylene glycol dimethacrylate under365nm UV irradiation with2-hydroxy-4-(2-hydroxyethoxy)-2-methyl propiophenone (12959) as an initiator. The modified chitosan having vinyl groups was synthesized through an acylation reaction of the chitosan with methacylic anhydride.3) asymmetric crosslinked chitosan membranes (ACCM) which were prepared via a lyophilization-heating method. Physical and mechanical properties of the CCGM and CMMC were studied. The effects of composition and structure of the membranes on morphology, proliferation, and activity of cultured human melanocytes were also investigated. It was observed that the CCGM and CMMC could function as good wound dressings in addition to good physical, mechanical, and biocompatible properties. The CCGM, CMMC, and ACCM all had good biocompatibility and could support melanocyte adhesion, growth, and proliferation and preserve cell activity. The use of PEG in chitosan membranes benefited cell detachment and transfer. The mechanical property of the CMMC was enhanced by crosslinking reactions. The melenocytes cultured on the ACCM possessed higher activities.The innovations of this work are following:the addition of PEG in chitosan minimizes the adhesion of melanocytes on the membranes and thus benefit the cell detachment and transfer during transplantations. Membranes prepared via chemical modification of chitosan followed by crosslinking reaction have improved mechanical properties and support melanocyte growth and transplantation applications. The membranes have highly potential to be applied for vitiligo treatment.