title: Mechanical characterization of electrospun gelatin scaffolds cross-linked by glucose.
abstract: Nanofibrous gelatin scaffolds were prepared by electrospinning from aqueous acetic acid and cross-linked thermally by glucose. The effect of the amount of glucose used as cross-linking agent on the mechanical properties of gelatin fibres was studied in this paper. The elastic modulus of gelatin fibres cross-linked by glucose was determined by modelling the behaviour of the meshes during tensile test. The model draws connections between the elastic moduli of a fibrous mesh and the fibre material and allows evaluation of elastic modulus of the fibre material. It was found that cross-linking by glucose increases the elastic modulus of gelatin fibres from 0.3 GPa at 0 % glucose content to 1.1 GPa at 15 % glucose content. This makes fibrous gelatin scaffolds cross-linked by glucose a promising material for biomedical applications.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physics, University of Tartu, Ravila 14c, 50411, Tartu, Estonia, kaido.siimon@ut.ee.
authors.forename: Kaido
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Siimon
authors.forename: Hele
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Siimon
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Järvekülg
mesh_terms: D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents / Q000737:chemistry*; D055119:Elastic Modulus; D005780:Gelatin / Q000737:chemistry*; D005947:Glucose / Q000737:chemistry*; D006358:Hot Temperature; D008422:Materials Testing; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D057139:Nanofibers; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D011312:Pressure; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013718:Tensile Strength; D023822:Tissue Engineering; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents; D005780:Gelatin; D005947:Glucose