Tissue engineering materials have become prominent in the acceleration of wound healing processes due to their mimicry of native tissue. Their successful integration relies on mechanical properties that enable them to act as stable scaffolds in fluctuating environments for cell growth and proliferation, much like natural tissues. Nanofibers are the major component of the hydrogels; moreover, it is known that the mechanical characteristics of hydrogels are a result of nanofiber crosslinking interactions. However, characterization of the mechanical properties of hydrogels is mainly done on bulk nanofiber mats. Our study focuses on the characterization of mechanical properties of electrospun single nanofibers using Persistence software analysis with the purpose of creating a two-layer wound repair material made of synthetic and natural materials. Fibrinogen (FG) is a protein in human blood plasma that has been successfully electrospun into nanofibers and is involved in the process of wound healing. The second type of nanofibers included chitosan (CS), poly(acrylic acid) (PAA), and ferric metal ions (Fe3+). After the solutions were electrospun, confocal imaging (20x zoom) was done to examine them on the Persistence software to determine the persistence length (LP) of the nanofibers. Moreover, SEM imaging was done to determine the diameter of the nanofibers to calculate the second moment of inertia. Both of the determined properties were used to calculate Young’s modulus, which is a mechanical property that determine the rigidity of the material. The overarching goal of the study is to create the two-layer hydrogel for wound healing acceleration, with the Fibrinogen as the first contact, and the CS:PAA:Fe3+ providing stability and antimicrobial properties for the patch.

Characterization of mechanical properties of hydrogel nanofibers for wound healing application

2019 Spring National Meeting

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