Abstract:
Healing of corneal epithelial layer wounds is a challenging task. Lack of
appropriate treatment or prolonged exposure of wound to the outer environment can
cause infections or permanent corneal blindness. A biomaterial with corneal epithelial
wound healing properties is of great interest. Due to high demand, a nanofibrous bilayer
scaffold with incorporated nanofiller was synthesized via electrospinning and
characterized.
First layer of scaffold was composed of poly(ɛ-caprolactone) fibers with
dispersed graphene oxide in the matrix. Non- cytotoxic dispersed mounts 0.3mg and
0.6 mg of graphene oxide (GO) were added to polycaprolactone (PCL) layer as a nanoregenerative medicine in addition to Ofloxacin to aid rapid wound recovery. Gelatin
nanofibers were electrospun onto PCL/GO nanofibers to achieve a bilayer wound
healing assembly. Four different compositions of scaffolds with two non-cytotoxic
amounts of GO were prepared. Characterization techniques including FTIR, SEM,
swelling, XRD, wettability and cell viability or cytotoxicity were used to find out
structural and biological properties of nanofibrous scaffold.
Results revealed that bilayer scaffolds of PGOGOFL0.6 with diameter of
81.609 ±31.776nm have low surface energy of 43.7 mN/m. So, these scaffolds were
non-toxic, biocompatible, have uniformity and enough hydrophilicity to designate them
ideal for cellular adhesion, proliferation and growth for ocular wound healing
applications.
