Development of nanofiber-reinforced hydrogel scaffolds for nucleus pulposus regeneration by a combination of electrospinning and spraying techniqueShow others and affiliations
2013 (English)In: Journal of Applied Polymer Science, ISSN 0021-8995, E-ISSN 1097-4628, Vol. 128, no 2, p. 1158-1163Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
In this work a new method is presented to efficiently produce hydrogel scaffolds reinforced with nanofibers to show enhanced mechanical properties and improved structural integrity. The method is based on a combination of air brush spraying of a hydrogel and electrospinning of nanofibers. With air brush spraying the controllability is enhanced and the potential for scale-up increased. The developed method was used to successfully reinforce gellan gum hydrogels with electrospun polycaprolactone nanofibers. Optical and rheological evaluations were performed and showed that parameters such as the amount of incorporated nanofibers, gellan gum concentration and calcium chloride (crosslinker) concentrations could be used to modulate material properties. Incorporation of a small amount of nanofibers had a reinforcing effect and resulted in a hydrogel with rheological properties similar to the human nucleus pulposus (NP). The method is flexible and carries potential for designing scaffolds for e.g. NP tissue regeneration.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2013. Vol. 128, no 2, p. 1158-1163
Keywords [en]
biomedical applications, electrospinning, fibers, gels, mechanical properties
National Category
Materials Engineering
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ri:diva-13334DOI: 10.1002/app.38316Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-84872764385OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ri-13334DiVA, id: diva2:973540
2016-09-222016-09-222020-12-02Bibliographically approved