Fabrication, performance, and biomedical application of collagen-, gelatin- or keratin-containing PHBV nanofibers

Electrospinning has recently emerged as a leading technique for the formation of nanofibrous structures made of synthetic and natural extracellular matrix components. In this chapter, nanofibrous scaffolds were obtained by electrospinning a combination of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate)(PHBV) and cell attachment factor such as type-I collagen, gelatin and keratin in 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-isopropanol (HIFP). The resulting fibers ranged from 300 to 800 nm in diameter. Their surfaces were characterized by attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The PHBV and protein components such as collagen and keratin were biodegraded by PHB depolymerase, type-I collagenase and trypsin solution, respectively. The results of cell adhesion experiment showed that NIH 3T3 cells more adhered to the PHBV/protein nanofibrous mats than to the PHBV nanofibrous one. It was also found, from a BrdU assay, that the PHBV/protein nanofibrous mats could accelerate the proliferation of fibroblast cells more effectively than the PHBV nanofibrous mats, suggesting the good scaffolds for tissue engineering.