Morphological and Structural Control of Electrospun PLLA Nanofibers: Influence of Electrospinning Techniques and Parameters

摘要

In the tissue engineering field, to regenerate tissues such as bone and cartilage, scaffolds based on biodegradable polymers are normally used. For the controlled release of drugs or biomolecules, biodegradable polymers are used to construct the carriers. Therefore, biopolymers such as poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) and other polyesters have been used for tissue engineering and drug delivery. Electrospinning, a versatile technique for producing polymer fibers, has been a main method in the construction of nanofibrous structures as tissue engineering scaffolds and delivery vehicle. Using different electrospinning techniques and the same technique but with different electrospinning parameters, the morphology and structure of resultant fibers can be changed, which may affect the biological performance of the nanofibrous structures. The current study investigated conventional electrospinning and emulsion electrospinning for obtaining PLLA fibers with different morphology and structures.