Fast and safe fabrication of a free-standing chitosan/alginate nanomembrane to promote stem cell delivery and wound healing

Yi Kong1 Institute of Burn Research, Southwest Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns, and Combined Injury, Chongqing Key Laboratory for Diseases Proteomics, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China;2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Rui Xu1 Institute of Burn Research, Southwest Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns, and Combined Injury, Chongqing Key Laboratory for Diseases Proteomics, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China

Mohammad Ali Darabi2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Wen Zhong3 Department of Biosystem Engineering, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Gaoxing Luo1 Institute of Burn Research, Southwest Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns, and Combined Injury, Chongqing Key Laboratory for Diseases Proteomics, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China

Malcolm MQ Xing1 Institute of Burn Research, Southwest Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns, and Combined Injury, Chongqing Key Laboratory for Diseases Proteomics, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China;2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, CanadaCorrespondence[email protected]

Jun Wu1 Institute of Burn Research, Southwest Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns, and Combined Injury, Chongqing Key Laboratory for Diseases Proteomics, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence[email protected]

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Abstract

Polymeric ultrathin membranes that are compatible with cells offer tremendous advantages for tissue engineering. In this article, we report a free-standing nanomembrane that was developed using a layer-by-layer self-assembly technique with a safe and sacrificial substrate method. After ionization, two oppositely charged polyelectrolytes, alginate and chitosan, were alternately deposited on a substrate of a solidified gelatin block to form an ultrathin nanomembrane. The space between the two adjacent layers was ∼200 nm. The thickness of the nanomembrane was proportional to the number of layers. The temperature-sensitive gelatin gel served as a sacrificial template at 37°C. The free-standing nanomembrane promoted bone marrow stem cell adhesion and proliferation. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting was used to analyze green-fluorescent-protein-positive mesenchymal stem cells from the wounds, which showed a significantly high survival and proliferation from the nanomembrane when cells were transplanted to mouse dorsal skin that had a full-thickness burn. The bone-marrow-stem-cell-loaded nanomembrane also accelerated wound contraction and epidermalization. Therefore, this methodology provides a fast and facile approach to construct free-standing ultrathin scaffolds for tissue engineering. The biocompatibility and free-standing nature of the fabricated nanomembrane may be particularly useful for stem cell delivery and wound healing.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Manitoba Institute of Child Health and China 863 Project (Grant No 2012AA020504) of the Institute of Burn Research, Southwest Hospital, the TMMU. MMQX would like to thank NSERC, Doctor Moore-house Fellowship, and Manitoba Diabetes Foundation for the research support.

Disclosure

No competing financial interests exist for the authors. The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Supplementary material

Video S1 The free-standing nanomembrane was obtained after the gelatin base melted in the 37°C water.

Fast and safe fabrication of a free-standing chitosan/alginate nanomembrane to promote stem cell delivery and wound healing

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Fast and safe fabrication of a free-standing chitosan/alginate nanomembrane to promote stem cell delivery and wound healing

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