Electrospun collagen/PVA Nanofiber as a scaffold in tympanic membrane healing

Tympanic membrane (TM) perforations lead to significant hearing loss and result in possible infection of the middle ear. The challenge of tissue engineering is to create an excellent scaffold. Until now, most of the effort has been focused on developing polymer scaffolds using biodegradable and biocompatible polymers. In native extracellular matrix (ECM), collagen (COL), as the principal structural elements of the native ECM, exists in a three-dimensional network structure composed of multifibrils on a nanofiber scale. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) has gained a great attention as a scaffold supporter for tissue engineering applications and biomedical applications. At present, the electrospinning technique has been used as an efficient processing method for manufacturing nanofiber structures for a number of applications. The purpose of this study is to obtain the COL/PVA nanofibers by electrospinning to mimic the native extracellular matrix to guide the cell migration from the edges of the perforation. Method: Electrospinning of collagen and PVA blend solutions has been done in various concentrations and different ratios by weight of collagen/PVA to get smooth nanofibers. The morphology of the electrospun collagen/PVA nanofibers was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Result and discussion: This study indicated the best concentration of PVA was about 10% w/v. Then the collagen acid solution was blended with 10 wt% PVA solution at the COL/PVA ratios (w/w) of 1/5. We found that the electrospinning ability of collagen/PVA mixtures was adverse with the increase in collagen amount

Keywords:

Tissue engineering , Tympanic membrane , Collagen , PVA , Electrospining