Towards skin tissue engineering using poly(2-hydroxy ethyl methacrylate)-co-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-co-poly(ε-caprolactone) hydrophilic terpolymers

Abstract

Poly(2-hydroxy ethyl methacrylate)-co-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-co-poly(ε-caprolactone) (PHEMA-co-PNIPAAm-co-PCL) terpolymers and polyaniline (PANI) were applied to develop hydrophilic, conductive, and biocompatible fibroblast scaffolds. Reversible addition of fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) and ring opening polymerizations were the synthesis methods. PHEMA and PNIPAAm segments reflected hydrophilicity and biocompatibility, PCL led to appropriate mechanical characteristics, and presence of PANI induced conductivity to scaffolds. Scaffolds imitated natural microenvironment of extra cellular matrix (ECM) to regulate cell attachment, proliferation, and differentiation for electrical conductivity (0.04 S cm⁻¹) and hydrophilicity (50 ± 5°). In vitro cytocompatibility investigations performed over 168 h indicated that nanofibers were non-toxic to mouse fibroblast L929 cells.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Fibroblast
• hydrophilicity
• nanofiber
• Scaffold
• terpolymer

Acknowledgment

We express our gratitude to the Payame Noor University as well as Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering Research Laboratory at Sahand University of Technology.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.