Well-ordered chitin whiskers layer with high stability on the surface of poly(d,l-lactide) film for enhancing mechanical and osteogenic properties.

In order to better utilize and combine the advantages of poly(d,l-lactide) (PDLLA) matrix and natural polysaccharide chitin whiskers (CHWs), needle-like CHWs with chiral nematic liquid crystal characteristics and remarkable moduli were chosen to surface modify PDLLA film. By a vertical coating method, a stable and well-ordered CHWs coating was formed on the surface of the PDLLA film through a polydopamine (PDA) interlayer. The high stability of the well-ordered CHWs coating on the surface of the PDLLA film was confirmed by PBS soaking experiment in terms of the changes of weight and surface morphology of the film. The surface microstructure and composition of the resulting PDLLA-PDA-CHWs film were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), atomic force microscope (AFM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and the thickness of the PDLLA, PDA and CHWs layers was determined using FESEM, too. Comparing with traditional PDLLA/CHWs film, prepared by solution blending with optimal content of 5 wt% CHWs, the hydrophilicity and mechanical properties of the PDLLA-PDA-CHWs film were significantly improved owing to the immobilization of a highly ordered CHWs coating. Furthermore, in vitro cell culture showed that the well-ordered CHWs coating had a more significant effect on promoting the adhesion, spreading, proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of MC3T3-E1 cells. All these results showed that the resulting PDLLA-PDA-CHWs film with well-ordered CHWs coating designed through simple and effective approach has promising application in bone repair material field.