title: Spray-spinning: a novel method for making alginate/chitosan fibrous scaffold.
abstract: The subject of our investigations was the process of obtaining alginate/chitosan polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) fibers. In this study, a novel method named "spray-spinning" was developed for the making of these hybrid fibers. In spray-spinning, a chitosan solution was sprayed into a flowing sodium alginate solution and sheared into streamlines. The elongated streamlines subsequently transformed into alginate/chitosan PEC fibers. Average diameter of the fibers increased with the increasing of chitosan concentration used in spinning. The fibers showed a high water-absorbability of about 45 folds of water to their dry weight and retained their integrity after incubation in Minimum Essential Medium (MEM) for up to 30 days. In vitro co-culture experiments indicated that the fibers could support the three-dimensional growth of HepG2 cells and did not display any cyto-toxicity. Moreover, in vivo implanting experiments indicated that the connective tissue cells infiltrated into the implanted fibrous scaffolds in 3 weeks after surgery. These results demonstrated the potential applications of the as-spun fibers in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biomedical Material Engineering, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 457 Zhongshan Road, 116023, Dalian, People's Republic of China. wangjz@dicp.ac.cn
authors.forename: Jian-Zheng
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xiao-Bo
authors.initials: XB
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Nan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Wei-Ting
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Wei-Yang
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Xiao-Jun
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Ying-Li
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Teng
mesh_terms: D000464:Alginates / Q000737:chemistry*; D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D040761:Biomimetic Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry*; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000737:chemistry*; D005740:Gases / Q000737:chemistry; D020723:Glucuronic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D006603:Hexuronic Acids / Q000737:chemistry; D008422:Materials Testing; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012399:Rotation; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds
chemical_list: D000464:Alginates; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D005740:Gases; D006603:Hexuronic Acids; D020723:Glucuronic Acid; D048271:Chitosan