Synthesis, Characterization, and Optimization Studies of Polycaprolactone/Polylactic Acid/Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticle/Orange Essential Oil Membranes for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

The development of scaffolds for cell regeneration has increased because they must have adequate biocompatibility and mechanical properties to be applied in tissue engineering. In this sense, incorporating nanofillers or essential oils has allowed new architectures to promote cell proliferation and regeneration of new tissue. With this goal, we prepared four membranes based on polylactic acid (PLA), polycaprolactone (PCL), titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2-NPs), and orange essential oil (OEO) by the drop-casting method. The preparation of TiO2-NPs followed the sol–gel process with spherical morphology and an average size of 13.39 nm ± 2.28 nm. The results show how the TiO2-NP properties predominate over the crystallization processes, reflected in the decreasing crystallinity percentage from 5.2% to 0.6% in the membranes. On the other hand, when OEO and TiO2-NPs are introduced into a membrane, they act synergistically due to the inclusion of highly conjugated thermostable molecules and the thermal properties of TiO2-NPs. Finally, incorporating OEO and TiO2-NPs promotes tissue regeneration due to the decrease in inflammatory infiltrate and the appearance of connective tissue. These results demonstrate the great potential for biomedical applications of the membranes prepared.

Synthesis and Morphology Characteristics of New Highly Branched Polycaprolactone PCL

“…Polycaprolactone is an important polymer in scaffolds, and the ability to produce composites increases its importance in this field [ 16 ]. Branched varieties, as well as PCL, have been extensively studied, which contain additional structural units such as glycidol, lactide, pentaerythritol or poly(ethylene glycol) [ 13 , 17 , 18 , 19 ]. However, only few studies to date have shown interest in highly branched PCL obtained by chain growth from a HP core.…”

Chitosan–Polyvinyl Alcohol Nanocomposites for Regenerative Therapy

“…On the other hand, significant benefits have also been reported in the design of nanocomposite scaffolds incorporating essential oils, such as a higher rate of degradation, greater porosity and biocompatibility, and lower inflammatory response [22,23]. Essential oils are complex, odorous liquid mixtures of highly volatile compounds obtained from the secondary metabolism of plants by solvent extraction or hydrodistillation, with excellent anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiviral, and therapeutic properties [24].…”