Electrospinning of gelatin for tissue engineering – molecular conformation as one of the overlooked problems

Abstract

Gelatin is one of the most promising materials in tissue engineering as a scaffold component. This biopolymer indicates biocompatibility and bioactivity caused by the existence of specific amino acid sequences, being preferred sites for interactions with cells, with high similarity to natural extracellular matrix. The present paper does not aspire to be a full review of electrospinning of gelatin and gelatin containing nanofibers as scaffolds in tissue engineering. It is focused on the still open question of the role of the higher order structures of gelatin in scaffold's bioactivity/functionality. Gelatin molecules can adopt various conformations depending on temperature, solvent, pH, etc. Our review indicates the potential ways for formation of α-helix conformation during electrospinning and the methods of further structure stabilization. It is intuitively expected that the native α-helix conformation appearing as a result of partial renaturation of gelatin can be beneficial from the viewpoint of bioactivity of scaffolds, providing thus a much cheaper alternative approach as opposed to expensive electrospinning of native collagen.

Advances in Electrospinning of Natural Biomaterials for Wound Dressing

“…Another way to obtain nanofibers is to use certain organic solvents. Except for some harmful and toxic organic solvents (usually 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (TFE), trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), and 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol (HFIP)), an effective way to obtain an electrospinning solution is to use an acidic solvent such as acetic acid and aqueous formic acid [93]. An important advantage of gelatin over other structural proteins (i.e., collagen) is that gelatin will not be denatured by the effect of applied voltage during electrospinning [94].…”

Emerging Trends in Information‐Driven Engineering of Complex Biological Systems

“…[104][105][106][107] While traditional electrospun tissue scaffolds recapitulate the fibril structure of the ECM, they tend to be dense, relatively thin, difficult to handle, and are difficult to produce with higher order, organized architecture. Examples of polysaccharide-based biomaterials include alginate, chondroitin sulfate, heparin sulfate, chitosan, and hyaluronic acid.…”

Electrospinning of Functional Nanofibers for Regenerative Medicine: From Bench to Commercial Scale

“…Figure 7 shows how collagen production can be influenced by a number of extraction conditions. It is because of these issues that collagen has remained an undesirable polymer for electrospinning and some research has moved onto gelatin electrospinning [94]. This denatured form of collagen is a much more affordable alternative to collagen which is much more easily handled using benign solvents such as acetic acid and phosphate buffered saline (Figure 8).…”