Queensland University of Technology (QUT), 2 George St, Brisbane, Queensland, 4059, Australia.
School of Mechanical, Medical & Process Engineering, Centre for Biomedical Technologies, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Queensland, 4000, Australia.
Macromol Rapid Commun. 2021 Dec;42(23):e2100433. doi: 10.1002/marc.202100433. Epub 2021 Oct 29.
Melt electrowriting (MEW) has been widely used to process polycaprolactone (PCL) into highly ordered microfiber scaffolds with controllable architecture and geometry. However, the integrity of PCL during specific processes involved in routine MEW scaffold development has not yet been thoroughly investigated. This study investigates the impact of MEW processing on PCL following exposure to high temperatures required for melt extrusion as well as atmospheric plasma, a widely used surface treatment for improving MEW scaffold hydrophilicity. The change in polymer molecular weight and melt temperature is characterized, in comparing unprocessed and processed samples, in addition to analysis of the mechanical and surface properties of the scaffolds. No significant difference in the molecular weight or mechanical properties of the PCL scaffolds is evident following 5 days of cyclic heating to 90 °C. Exposure to plasma for up to 5 min significantly increased hydrophilicity and surface adhesion force, characterized via contact angle and atomic force microscope, however, significant polymer degradation occurred evidenced by increased brittleness of the scaffolds. This study demonstrates the degradation of PCL following fabrication via MEW and surface treatment to guide the optimization of scaffold development for subsequent applications in tissue engineering and biofabrication.
熔融静电纺丝 (MEW) 已广泛用于将聚己内酯 (PCL) 加工成具有可控结构和几何形状的高度有序微纤维支架。然而，在常规 MEW 支架开发中涉及的特定工艺过程中，PCL 的完整性尚未得到彻底研究。本研究调查了 MEW 加工对 PCL 的影响，这些 PCL 经历了熔融挤出所需的高温以及大气压等离子体的处理，大气压等离子体是一种广泛用于提高 MEW 支架亲水性的表面处理方法。对未经处理和处理后的样品进行了比较，以表征聚合物分子量和熔体温度的变化，此外还分析了支架的机械和表面性能。在 5 天内循环加热至 90°C 的情况下，PCL 支架的分子量或机械性能没有明显差异。暴露于等离子体中长达 5 分钟可显著提高亲水性和表面附着力，通过接触角和原子力显微镜进行了表征，然而，支架的脆性显著增加，表明聚合物发生了严重降解。本研究表明，通过 MEW 制造和表面处理后，PCL 会发生降解，从而为指导组织工程和生物制造等后续应用中支架的开发优化提供了指导。
