In the proliferation of cells, the extracellular matrix (ECM) functions as environmental information transducer, cell morphological inducer and vital factor forming physical properties of tissues. Fabrication of ECM-mimicking scaffold using ECM-based materials brings potential advantages of natural ECM for tissue regeneration by reconstruction of cell and tissue surrounding environment.
Small intestine submucosa (SIS) is a member ECM material. SIS consists of over 90% type I, II, III collagen, and various kinds of bioactive factors, benefits cell proliferation, cell migration, angiogenesis, mononuclear infiltration and cellular differentiation. The goal of this study is to use SIS as the standard material to develop a nanofiber structure which is not only received the bioactive characteristic of SIS but also restored ECM structure by electrospinning technique. Practically, SIS possesses good biocompatibility but lacking of electrospinning ability and mechanical properties. Thence, a biocompatible poly(ε-caprolactone-co-lactide) (PCLA) copolymer was added for fabrication composite fibrous membranes, in which, incorporated both nature SIS for cellular attachment and bioactive surface and synthetic polymers for the mainstay of electrospun fibers.
In this study, the blended solution of SIS/PCLA with various concentrations were electrospinning to generate the fibrous structure of ECM. Structural characterization of SIS fibrous sheets was observed by scanning electron microscope. Biodegradability and biocompatibility of SIS nanofiber sheets were evaluated by weight loss (in the present of collagenase) and MTT cell proliferation assay. The finding showed that SIS/PCLA blended solutions are able to electrospun to gain 60nm to 700nm fibers, correlated to the amount of SIS in the electrospinning solution. Embedded of drugs into SIS/PCLA nanofibers showed different affected on the fiber size between experimental groups. SIS/PCLA sheets expressed good biocompatible characteristic. In conclusion, we hypothesize from these results that SIS nanofiber sheets can be used as a superior scaffold for tissue engineering applications. For advanced application in the regeneration of tissue/organs, SIS nanofiber sheet was established as a drug delivery system which carried Dexamethasone (DEX) and Silver sulfadiazine (SSD). Using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and UV-Vis photo-spectroscopy, we investigated release characteristic of these embedded hydrophilic, and hydrophobic drugs in SIS nanofiber. An in vivo biocompatible and inflammation response examinations of the SIS and drug carried SIS nanofiber sheets have carried on showed the potential of SIS/PCLA in the application as a drug carrier.
