Analytical and Testing Center, Research Center for Nano-biomaterials, School of Chemical Engineering, West China School of Preclinical and Forensic Medicine, & School of Materials Science & Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China.
J Mater Chem B. 2019 Apr 28;7(16):2634-2642. doi: 10.1039/c8tb03296c. Epub 2019 Mar 20.
Chitosan-based guided tissue regeneration (GTR) membranes are extensively used in orthopedic/stomatological regenerative medicine since chitosan shares many chemical and structural similarities with glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) in the extracellular matrix. However, the available chitosan-based GTR membranes mostly lack topological features of natural tissues, resulting in unsatisfactory biocompatibility. To address this limitation, we developed a novel biologically-inspired asymmetric topological chitosan (ATCS) membrane supported by a nanoporous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template. We, thereafter, investigated the mechanical properties, degradation, and cytocompatibility of the ATCS membranes and compared them with those of the symmetric chitosan (SyCS) membranes, produced with a smooth Al template. The asymmetric topological structure significantly increased the tensile strength but decreased the extent of degradation of the ATCS membranes compared to those of SyCS. In the in vitro studies, the ATCS membranes outperformed the SyCS membranes in cytocompatibility due to their cell-like features. In addition to the ATCS membranes, the ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) membranes with a similar cell-like structure were successfully fabricated using the AAO template to verify the universality of the AAO template-assisted technique. Accordingly, the AAO template-assisted strategy, defined in this study, is an innovative, universal, and facile way to fabricate polymeric asymmetric membranes with cell-like features. The bioengineered ATCS membranes with tunable degradability, prominent mechanical properties and biocompatibility are promising candidates for orthopedic healthcare applications.
壳聚糖基引导组织再生（GTR）膜在骨科/口腔再生医学中得到广泛应用，因为壳聚糖在化学和结构上与细胞外基质中的糖胺聚糖（GAG）有许多相似之处。然而，现有的壳聚糖基 GTR 膜大多缺乏天然组织的拓扑特征，导致生物相容性不理想。为了解决这个问题，我们开发了一种新型的仿生不对称拓扑壳聚糖（ATCS）膜，由纳米多孔阳极氧化铝（AAO）模板支撑。随后，我们研究了 ATCS 膜的机械性能、降解和细胞相容性，并将其与用光滑 Al 模板制备的对称壳聚糖（SyCS）膜进行了比较。与 SyCS 相比，不对称拓扑结构显著提高了 ATCS 膜的拉伸强度，但降低了其降解程度。在体外研究中，由于具有细胞样特征，ATCS 膜在细胞相容性方面优于 SyCS 膜。除了 ATCS 膜之外，还使用 AAO 模板成功制备了具有类似细胞样结构的乙烯-醋酸乙烯酯（EVA）膜，以验证 AAO 模板辅助技术的通用性。因此，本研究中定义的 AAO 模板辅助策略是一种制造具有细胞样特征的聚合物不对称膜的创新、通用和简单的方法。具有可调降解性、突出机械性能和生物相容性的生物工程化 ATCS 膜有望成为骨科保健应用的候选材料。
