Fabrication and characterization of PCL/gelatin/chitosan ternary nanofibrous composite scaffold for tissue engineering applications

In the present study, we have fabricated a ternary composite nanofibrous scaffold from PCL/gelatin/chitosan, by electrospinning technique, using a solvent system—chloroform/methanol for polycaprolactone (PCL) and acetic acid for gelatin and chitosan, for tissue engineering applications. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) was used to investigate the fiber morphology of the scaffold and it was found that the fiber morphology was influenced by the concentrations of PCL, gelatin, and chitosan in polymer solution during electrospinning. X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared, and thermogravimetric (TG) analysis results showed some interactions among the molecules of PCL, gelatin, and chitosan within the scaffold. In-vitro cell culture studies were done by seeding L929 mouse fibroblasts on fabricated composite scaffold, which confirmed the cell viability, high cell proliferation rate, and cell adhesion on composite scaffold as indicated by MTT assay, DNA quantification, and FE-SEM analysis of cell-scaffold construct. Thus, the ternary composite scaffold made from the combination of PCL (synthetic polymer), gelatin, and chitosan (natural polymer) may find potential application in tissue engineering.