title: Novel approach towards aligned PCL-Collagen nanofibrous constructs from a benign solvent system.
abstract: Under several conditions such as severe trauma skeletal muscle lack the ability to reorganize and the loss of muscle function is inevitable. The application of tissue engineered constructs is a promising approach in regenerative therapies for damaged muscular tissue. Therefore, the development of highly aligned scaffolds based on polycaprolactone (PCL) has been studied extensively. Nanofiber scaffolds containing collagen have mostly been fabricated via electrospinning using highly corrosive 1,1,1,3,3,3 hexafluoro-2-propanol (HFIP) so far. In this study, aligned Polycaprolactone-Collagen (PCL-Coll) biocomposite nanofibers were fabricated via electrospinning using environmentally benign diluted acetic acid (AcOH) as solvent. Furthermore, ultrasonic treatment was introduced to enhance the intrinsically weak solubility of PCL in AcOH. AcOH was diluted to an ideal concentration for electrospinning of 90%. The final solutions were spun at various conditions and collected with different collector setups in order to determine ideal processing conditions for the fabrication of highly aligned nanofibers.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Polymer Materials, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, 91058 Erlangen, Germany; Department of Plastic- and Hand Surgery, University Hospital of Erlangen, 91058 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dippold
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic- and Hand Surgery, University Hospital of Erlangen, 91058 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Aijia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic- and Hand Surgery, University Hospital of Erlangen, 91058 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Moritz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hardt
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomaterials, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, 91058 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Aldo R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Boccaccini
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic- and Hand Surgery, University Hospital of Erlangen, 91058 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Raymund
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Horch
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic- and Hand Surgery, University Hospital of Erlangen, 91058 Erlangen, Germany. Electronic address: Justus.Beier@uk-erlangen.de.
authors.forename: Justus P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Beier
authors.affiliation: Institute of Polymer Materials, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, 91058 Erlangen, Germany. Electronic address: Dirk.Schubert@fau.de.
authors.forename: Dirk W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Schubert
mesh_terms: D003094:Collagen / Q000737:chemistry*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D057139:Nanofibers / Q000737:chemistry*; D011091:Polyesters / Q000737:chemistry*; D012997:Solvents / Q000737:chemistry*; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D023822:Tissue Engineering; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D011091:Polyesters; D012997:Solvents; D014867:Water; C016240:polycaprolactone; D003094:Collagen
keywords: Aligned nanofibers; Benign solvent; Collagen; Electrospinning; Polycaprolactone