title: Mechanical properties and permeability of porous chitosan-poly(p-dioxanone)/silk fibroin conduits used for peripheral nerve repair.
abstract: Some poly(p-dioxanone) (PDO) homopolymers were first synthesized and the selected PDO was conjugated onto chitosan using a group-protecting method to produce chitosan-poly(p-dioxanone) (CH-PDO) copolymers with various PDO percentages changing from around 30 to 60 wt%. The CH-PDO with the PDO content of around 42 wt% was used to blend with prescribed amounts of silk fibroin (SF) to build porous single-lumen conduits that are intended to be used for long-gap peripheral nerve repair. Some genipin-crosslinked CH-PDO/SF conduits were endowed with an average porosity of around 60% in their porous wall, and with changed pore-sizes varying from around 10 to ca. 70 μm using optimized processing conditions. After being degraded in a PBS medium containing a certain amount of lysozyme for various periods up to 8 weeks, some optimal CH-PDO/SF conduits were able to retain their compressive load and deformation recovery at around 59 N/m and 73% in wet state, respectively. In addition, the achieved CH-PDO/SF conduits allowed the permeation of nutritional molecules with various molecular weights while showing a certain ability to prevent cells from infiltrating through the conduit wall. Cell culture confirmed that the optimized CH-PDO/SF conduits were able well supported the growth of rat glioma C6 cells. These results suggest that presently developed CH-PDO/SF conduits have promising potential for long-gap peripheral nerve repair.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine and Minnan PET Center, the first Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen 316003, PR China.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7K 7B4.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, PR China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, PR China. Electronic address: ying_x_wan@yahoo.ca.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: School of Nuclear Technology, Chemistry and Life Science, Hubei University of Science and Technology, Xianning 437100, PR China. Electronic address: sunshaofa@mail.hbust.com.cn.
authors.forename: Shaofa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002417:Cattle; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry*; D004146:Dioxanes / Q000737:chemistry*; D005349:Fibroins / Q000737:chemistry*; D008422:Materials Testing; D009416:Nerve Regeneration / Q000187:drug effects*; D010525:Peripheral Nerves / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D010539:Permeability; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D016062:Porosity; D051381:Rats; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D004146:Dioxanes; D011108:Polymers; C079733:poly-4-dioxan-2-one; D005349:Fibroins; D048271:Chitosan
keywords: Chitosan copolymer; Mechanical property; Permeability; Porous conduit; Silk fibroin