title: Development of keratin-chitosan-gelatin composite scaffold for soft tissue engineering.
abstract: Keratin has gained much attention in the recent past as a biomaterial for wound healing owing to its biocompatibility, biodegradability, intrinsic biological activity and presence of cellular binding motifs. In this paper, a novel biomimetic scaffold containing keratin, chitosan and gelatin was prepared by freeze drying method. The prepared keratin composite scaffold had good structural integrity. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy showed the retention of the native structure of individual biopolymers (keratin, chitosan, and gelatin) used in the scaffold. Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) results revealed a high thermal denaturation temperature of the scaffold (200-250°C). The keratin composite scaffold exhibited tensile strength (96 kPa), compression strength (8.5 kPa) and water uptake capacity (>1700%) comparable to that of a collagen scaffold, which was used as control. The morphology of the keratin composite scaffold observed using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) exhibited good porosity and interconnectivity of pores. MTT assay using NIH 3T3 fibroblast cells demonstrated that the cell viability of the keratin composite scaffold was good. These observations suggest that the keratin-chitosan-gelatin composite scaffold is a promising alternative biomaterial for tissue engineering applications.
authors.affiliation: Central Leather Research Institute (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), Adyar, Chennai 600020, India.
authors.forename: Prachi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kakkar
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Engineering Division, School of Bio Sciences and Technology, VIT University, Vellore 632014, India.
authors.forename: Sudhanshu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Verma
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Engineering Division, School of Bio Sciences and Technology, VIT University, Vellore 632014, India.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Manjubala
authors.affiliation: Central Leather Research Institute (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), Adyar, Chennai 600020, India. Electronic address: bmadhan76@yahoo.co.in.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Madhan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry; D002152:Calorimetry, Differential Scanning; D002470:Cell Survival; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry*; D003094:Collagen; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology; D005612:Freeze Drying; D005780:Gelatin / Q000737:chemistry*; D007633:Keratins / Q000737:chemistry*; D051379:Mice; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D041681:NIH 3T3 Cells; D016062:Porosity; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013718:Tensile Strength; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D007633:Keratins; D005780:Gelatin; D003094:Collagen; D048271:Chitosan
keywords: Biomaterial; Chitosan; Gelatin; Keratin; Tissue engineering; Wound healing