Improving the Mechanical Properties of (Chitosan/Polyurethane) Electrospun Blend Scaffold Used for Skin Regeneration

摘要

Burns and skin necrosis is considered as one of the major problems faced in the medical field and a lot of researches are focusing on developing tissues as substitutes for damaged skin using many fabrication methods. Electrospinning is one of the most important fabrication methods used for scaffold preparation, by providing fibrous structure which enhances cell adhesion through the high surface area to volume ratio. Besides, the porous structure with open porosity will allow the cells to penetrate to form a 3-D tissue. In this study, the mechanical properties (tensile strength) of electrospun polyurethane PU scaffold were improved by blending polyurethane with chitosan. This natural material will enhance the cell adhesion since it is a hydrophilic material. Blending polyurethane with chitosan highly increased the tensile strength of the prepared scaffolds, The first specimen with ratio [1:6] [chitosan:PU] revealed medium increase in the modulus of elasticity but with non-uniform fibrous structure. Increasing the ratio of polyurethane to chitosan in other specimens [1:10] and [1:20] [chitosan:PU], highly increased the modulus of elasticity of pure polyurethane from 1.518 Mpa to 12.99 and 12.81 Mpa relatively with more uniform fibrous structure.