Free-Standing Polyelectrolyte Membranes Made of Chitosan and Alginate

Abstract

Free-standing films have increasing applications in the biomedical field as drug delivery systems, for wound healing and tissue engineering. Here, we prepared free-standing membranes by the layer-by-layer assembly of chitosan and alginate, two widely used biomaterials. Our aim was to produce thick membrane, to study the permeation of model drugs and the adhesion of muscle cells. We first defined the optimal growth conditions in terms of pH and alginate concentration. The membranes could be easily detached from polystyrene or polypropylene substrate without any post-processing step. They dry thickness was varied over a large range from 4 to 35 μm. A twofold swelling was observed by confocal microscopy when they were immersed in PBS. In addition, we quantified the permeation of model drugs (fluorescent dextrans) through the free standing membrane, which depended on the dextran molecular weight. Finally, we showed that myoblast cells exhibited a preferential adhesion on the alginate-ending membrane as compared to the chitosan-ending membrane or to the substrate side.

Multilayered drug delivery coatings composed of daidzein-loaded PHBV microspheres embedded in a biodegradable polymer matrix by electrophoretic deposition

“…A polyelectrolyte multilayer structure consisting of alternative deposition of chitosan and alginate was prepared and the corresponding chitosan (positively charged) and alginate (negatively charged) solutions were prepared according to the literature. 22,23 Briefly, an acetate buffer was prepared at pH 3 or 5 using appropriate volumes of 0.1 M acetic acid and 0.1 M sodium acetate. 5 mg ml À1 of alginate was prepared in the low pH buffer (pH = 3) and 1 mg l À1 of chitosan was prepared in the high pH buffer (pH = 5).…”

Direct Determination of Chitosan–Mucin Interactions Using a Single-Molecule Strategy: Comparison to Alginate–Mucin Interactions

“…Examples of polyanions used in combination with chitosans for the preparation of multilayers include alginate [10,11], hyaluronic acid [12,13], and dopamine grafted hyaluronic acid [14], among others [15,16]. Analogously, the interaction capacities of chitosans with polyanions have been exploited to a large extent in the formation of polyelectrolyte complexes involving chitosan, in particular for development of vehicles for enhanced delivery of polynucleotides (DNA vectors and siRNA).…”

A review of bioactive plant polysaccharides: Biological activities, functionalization, and biomedical applications

“…negative charged alginate and positive charged chitosan in acid conditions) on material surfaces as polyelectrolyte multilayers Cell adhesion and spreading, drug and DNA deliveryCaridade et al (2013),Hu and Tsou (2014),Liu, Liu, Liu, Li, and Liu (2013),Silva et al (2013a) StarchEsterificationTupa et al (2013) …”