title: Highly biocompatible nanofibrous microspheres self-assembled from chitin in NaOH/urea aqueous solution as cell carriers.
abstract: In this work, chitin microspheres (NCM) having a nanofibrous architecture were constructed using a "bottom-up" fabrication pathway. The chitin chains rapidly self-assembled into nanofibers in NaOH/urea aqueous solution by a thermally induced method and subsequently formed weaved microspheres. The diameter of the chitin nanofibers and the size of the NCM were tunable by controlling the temperature and the processing parameters to be in the range from 26 to 55 nm and 3 to 130 μm, respectively. As a result of the nanofibrous surface and the inherent biocompatibility of chitin, cells could adhere to the chitin microspheres and showed a high attachment efficiency, indicating the great potential of the NCM for 3D cell microcarriers.
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry & Molecule Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072 (China).
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.forename: Xing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Zhixiong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Xiaoli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Jianfeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yanfeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Qifa
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Lina
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000187:drug effects; D002460:Cell Line; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D002686:Chitin / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D008863:Microspheres; D057139:Nanofibers / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity / Q000648:ultrastructure; D012972:Sodium Hydroxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D012996:Solutions / Q000737:chemistry; D023822:Tissue Engineering; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds; D014508:Urea / Q000737:chemistry*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D012996:Solutions; D014867:Water; D002686:Chitin; D012972:Sodium Hydroxide; D014508:Urea
keywords: cell microcarriers; chitin nanofibers; microspheres; nanofibrous architecture; self-assembly