Polyvinyl alcohol and pectin blended films: Preparation, characterization, and mesenchymal stem cells attachment

The design of novel wound dressings for chronic wound treatment is still of great importance. One of the promising approaches is application of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), immobilized on a flexible polymer film, for healing. In this study, blended films based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and pectin with different component ratio have been prepared by solution casting method and evaluated. Physicochemical properties of the formed PVA/pectin films, including their morphology, wettability, swelling, stability, mechanical characteristics, have been studied. We demonstrated that the surface of PVA/pectin films could be modified by ultraviolet or dielectric barrier discharge plasma exposure. After both ultraviolet and plasma treatment, the hydrophilicity of PVA/pectin films increased. It has been shown that additional crosslinking of PVA/pectin films with glutaraldehyde resulted in reinforcement of their structure. MSCs were cultured on neat and modified PVA/pectin samples to evaluate the effects of film characteristics and composition on cell behavior. It has been determined that MSCs effectively adhered to glutaraldehyde-crosslinked PVA/pectin films and formed on them the monolayer culture of fibroblast-like cells. The additional modification of PVA/pectin films with collagen resulted in enhancement of MSCs adhesion. Our results show that the obtained PVA/pectin films with adhered MSCs can be suggested for potential application as a part of novel complex wound dressings.