Design and development of polydioxanone scaffolds for skin tissue engineering manufactured via green process

Fiber spinning technologies attracted a great interest since the beginning of the last century. Among these, electrospinning is a widely diffuse technique; however, it presents some drawbacks such as low fiber yield, high energy demand and the use of organic solvents. On the contrary, centrifugal spinning is a more sustainable method and allows to obtain fiber using centrifugal force and melted materials. The aim of the present work was the design and the development of polydioxanone (PDO) microfibers intended for tissue engineering, using centrifugal spinning. PDO, a bioresorbable polymer currently used for sutures, was selected as low melting polyester and DES (deep eutectic solvents), either choline chloride/citric acid (ChCl/CA) or betaine/citric acid (Bet/CA) 1:1 M ratio, were used to improve PDO spinnability. Physical mixtures of DES and PDO were prepared using different weight ratios. These were then poured into the spinneret and melted at 140 °C for 5 min. After the complete melting, the blends were spun for 1 min at 700 rpm. The fibers were characterized for physico chemical properties (morphology; dimensions; chemical structure; thermal behavior; mechanical properties). Moreover, the preclinical investigation was performed in vitro (biocompatibility, adhesion and proliferation of fibroblasts) and in vivo (murine burn/excisional model to assess safety and efficacy). The multidisciplinary approach allowed to obtain an extensive characterization to develop PDO based microfibers as medical device for implant to treat full thickness skin wounds.