Preparation and characterization of electrospun PCL/PLGA membranes and chitosan/gelatin hydrogels for skin bioengineering applications

In this study, two distinct systems of biomaterials were fabricated and their potential use as a bilayer scaffold (BS) for skin bioengineering applications was assessed. The initial biomaterial was a polycaprolactone/poly(lacto-co-glycolic acid) (PCL/PLGA) membrane fabricated using the electrospinning method. The PCL/PLGA membrane M-12 (12% PCL/10% PLGA, 80:20) displayed strong mechanical properties (stress/strain values of 3.01 ± 0.23 MPa/225.39 ± 7.63%) and good biocompatibility as demonstrated by adhesion of keratinocyte cells on the surface and ability to support cell proliferation. The second biomaterial was a hydrogel composed of 2% chitosan and 15% gelatin (50:50) crosslinked with 5% glutaraldehyde. The CG-3.5 hydrogel (with 3.5% glutaraldehyde (v/v)) displayed a high porosity, ≥97%, good compressive strength (2.23 ± 0.25 MPa), ability to swell more than 500% of its dry weight and was able to support fibroblast cell proliferation. A BS was fabricated by underlaying the membrane and hydrogel casting method to combine these two materials. The physical properties and biocompatibility were preliminarily investigated and the properties of the two biomaterials were shown to be complementary when combined. The upper layer membrane provided mechanical support in the scaffold and reduced the degradation rate of the hydrogel layer. Cell viability was similar to that in the hydrogel layer which suggests that addition of the membrane layer did not affect the biocompatibility.