Optimization of Glutaraldehyde Vapor Treatment for Electrospun Collagen/Silk Tissue Engineering Scaffolds.

ABSTRACT: Freestanding fibrous matrices with proper protein composition and desirable mechanical properties, stability, and biocompatibility are in high demand for tissue engineering. Electrospun (E-spun) collagen-silk composite fibers are promising tissue engineering scaffolds. However, as-spun fibers are mechanically weak and unstable. In this work, we applied glutaraldehyde (GA) vapor treatment to improve the fiber performance, and the effect on the properties of E-spun collagen-silk fibers was studied systematically. GA treatment was found to affect collagen and silk distinctively. Whereas GA chemically links collagen peptides, it induces conformational transitions to enrich β-sheets in silk. The combined effects impose a control of the mechanical properties, stability, and degradability of the

SUBMITTER: Zhu B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5494641 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature