title: Investigating processing techniques for bovine gelatin electrospun scaffolds for bone tissue regeneration.
abstract: Tissue engineering has emerged as a promising solution to tissue regeneration in the case of significant bone loss due to disease or injury. The ability to promote cellular attachment, migration, and differentiation into tissue is dependent on the scaffold's surface properties and composition. Bovine gelatin is a natural polymer commonly used as a scaffolding material for tissue engineering applications. Nonetheless, due to the hydrophilic behavior of gelatin, cross-linking and additives are necessary to maintain the scaffold's structure and overall strength in vivo. In this article, we discuss various processing techniques to determine the optimal electrospinning, cross-linking, sintering, and mineralization parameters necessary to yield a porous, mechanically enhanced scaffold. The scaffolds were evaluated quantitatively using compressive mechanical testing, and qualitatively using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Mechanical data concluded the use of biocompatible microbial transglutaminase (mTG) as a cross-linking agent, led to increased compressive strength. SEM images confirmed the presence of individual gelatin and polymeric nanofibers woven into one scaffold. Sintering before leaching the scaffold yielded structured pores throughout the three-dimensional scaffold when compared to the scaffolds that were leached prior to sintering. The results presented in this article will provide novel information about processing techniques that can be utilized to develop a hybrid synthetic and biological based biomimetic mineralized scaffold for trabecular bone tissue regeneration. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 105B: 1131-1140, 2017.
authors.affiliation: Rutgers University, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Piscataway, New Jersey.
authors.forename: Brittany L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.affiliation: Brown University, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Providence, Rhode Island.
authors.forename: Apurva
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Limaye
authors.affiliation: Rutgers University, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Piscataway, New Jersey.
authors.forename: Jazmin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yarborough
authors.affiliation: Rutgers University, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Piscataway, New Jersey.
authors.forename: Joseph W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Freeman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D001861:Bone Regeneration; D018786:Bone Substitutes / Q000737:chemistry*; D002417:Cattle; D005780:Gelatin / Q000737:chemistry*; D008422:Materials Testing; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry*; D011503:Transglutaminases / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D018786:Bone Substitutes; D005780:Gelatin; D011503:Transglutaminases
keywords: electrospun scaffolds; microbial transglutaminase bovine gelatin; mineralization; tissue engineering