Fabrication and Characterization of a Novel Bacterial Cellulose/Gelatin Hydrogel Composite as a Multifunctional Scaffold in Tissue Engineering
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Sayedeh Boshra Sadat,1 Bahareh Behrouznejad,2 Elahe Masaeli,3,*
1. Department of Animal Biotechnology, Cell Science Research Center, Royan Institute for Biotechnology, ACECR, Isfahan, Iran
2. Department of Animal Biotechnology, Cell Science Research Center, Royan Institute for Biotechnology, ACECR, Isfahan, Iran
3. Department of Animal Biotechnology, Cell Science Research Center, Royan Institute for Biotechnology, ACECR, Isfahan, Iran
- Introduction: Fundamentally, polymeric biomaterials contain either synthetic or naturally occurring polymers. Bacterial cellulose (BC) and Gelatin, subsumed into the natural category possess such great properties as hydrophilicity, biocompatibility and biodegradability. These unique features lead to the fabrication of hydrogel composites bestowing promising vehicles upon novel fields such as tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The in situ combination of the above-mentioned biopolymers, along with a proper cross-linking agent, yields three-dimensional (3D) porous substrate in which BC serves as a framework, and gelatin is considered as a filler. This hybrid network demonstrated outstanding physico-chemical properties including water-uptake capability as well as open and interconnected macroporosity.
- Methods: BC/gelatin hydrogel was fabricated by adding 0.5 wt/v% gelatin into the BC production culture medium, containing D-glucose (100 gL-1), yeast extract (10 gL-1), peptone (5 gL-1) and CaCO3 (20 gL-1). The cultures were maintained in 28 ºC for 21 days under static conditions. Physico-chemical features of the hydrogels were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), ATR-FTIR spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Furthermore, swelling ratio of hydrogels were assessed via a hydrolytic method based on the measurement of weight changes during 24 hours.
- Results: SEM micrographs showed porous and interconnected structure of BC/gelatin composite. The ATR-FTIR spectrum of BC/gelatin depicted the stretching band at about 1530cm-1 attributed to the amide II bonds between carboxyl group of BC and amine group of gelatin. On the contrary, this band was not observed in the context of BC hydrogel. The XRD characterization of BC/Gel and BC demonstrated no significant changes in the crystalline structure. Their crystallinity index, in contrast, showed a slight difference. The swelling ratio of the BC/gelatin hydrogel in deionized water was found to reach the maximum level at 3 hours. However, in comparison with BC, the swelling ratio of the hybrid hydrogel decreased gradually within 24 hours.
- Conclusion: BC/gelatin hydrogel containing porous construction, gradual biodegradability and high water absorption ability can delineate a new horizon to the innovative areas such as tissue regeneration and drug delivery systems.
- Keywords: Bacterial cellulose; Gelatin; Hydrogel; Tissue engineering
