Microplasma-assisted hydrogel fabrication: A novel method for gelatin-graphene oxide nano composite hydrogel synthesis for biomedical application

PeerJ

article

Mantosh Kumar Satapathy¹  Wei-Hung Chiang²  Er-Yuan Chuang¹  Chih-Hwa Chen³  Jia-Liang Liao²  Huin-Ning Huang² 

[1] Graduate Institute of Biomedical Materials and Tissue Engineering, Taipei Medical University;Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology;Bone and Joint Research Center, Department of Orthopedics, Taipei Medical University Hospital, School of Medicine, College of Medicine;School of Biomedical Engineering, College of Biomedical Engineering, Taipei Medical University

关键词: Argon microplasma;    Gelatin;    Graphene oxide;    Cross-linking;    Hydrogel;    Biocompatibility;    Tissue engineering;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.3498

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

Toxicity issues and biocompatibility concerns with traditional classical chemical cross-linking processes prevent them from being universal approaches for hydrogel fabrication for tissue engineering. Physical cross-linking methods are non-toxic and widely used to obtain cross-linked polymers in a tunable manner. Therefore, in the current study, argon micro-plasma was introduced as a neutral energy source for cross-linking in fabrication of the desired gelatin-graphene oxide (gel-GO) nanocomposite hydrogel scaffolds. Argon microplasma was used to treat purified gelatin (8% w/v) containing 0.1∼1 wt% of high-functionality nano-graphene oxide (GO). Optimized plasma conditions (2,500 V and 8.7 mA) for 15 min with a gas flow rate of 100 standard cm3/min was found to be most suitable for producing the gel-GO nanocomposite hydrogels. The developed hydrogel was characterized by the degree of cross-linking, FTIR spectroscopy, SEM, confocal microscopy, swelling behavior, contact angle measurement, and rheology. The cell viability was examined by an MTT assay and a live/dead assay. The pore size of the hydrogel was found to be 287 ± 27 µm with a contact angle of 78° ± 3.7°. Rheological data revealed improved storage as well as a loss modulus of up to 50% with tunable viscoelasticity, gel strength, and mechanical properties at 37 °C temperature in the microplasma-treated groups. The swelling behavior demonstrated a better water-holding capacity of the gel-GO hydrogels for cell growth and proliferation. Results of the MTT assay, microscopy, and live/dead assay exhibited better cell viability at 1% (w/w) of high-functionality GO in gelatin. The highlight of the present study is the first successful attempt of microplasma-assisted gelatin-GO nano composite hydrogel fabrication that offers great promise and optimism for further biomedical tissue engineering applications.

【 授权许可】

CC BY