The highly absorbent polyurethane/polylactic acid blend electrospun tissue scaffold for dermal wound dressing

In this study, novel hollow nanofiber materials were produced by the coaxial electrospinning method from polyurethane (PU)/poly(lactic acid) (PLA) blend nanofibers of different weight ratios (80:20, 60:40, 50:50, 40:60, and 20:80). Thus, the tissue scaffolds as dermal wound dressing materials which can absorb the exudate liquid formed on the wet wound and dry quickly, providing patient comfort with high mechanical properties, showing high biocompatibility, and supporting fibroblast cell growth were developed. Moreover, the characteristics of hollow PU/PLA nanofibers were compared in detail with the characteristics of solid PU/PLA nanofibers in our previous study. Hollow PU/PLA nanofibers were observed 2-4 times thinner than solid PU/PLA nanofibers. The production of hollow nanofibers in the range of 235-518 nm was achieved. It was reported that the hollow PU/PLA (50/50, w/w) nanofiber has the highest tensile strength with a value of 7.19 MPa, and the hollow PU/PLA (60/40) w/w) nanofiber has the highest percentage elongation with a value of 63.78%. It was determined that the biomedical material, which has the highest liquid absorption capacity with a value of 756% and can dry in 10 min, is H5PU5PLA nanofiber. As a result, the highest value of fibroblast cell viability with 92.38% by cytotoxicity test was observed for hollow PU/PLA (20/80, w/w) nanofiber.

Automated summary

This study produced novel hollow nanofiber materials through coaxial electrospinning from polyurethane (PU)/poly(lactic acid) (PLA) blend nanofibers of different weight ratios. These materials were developed as tissue scaffolds for dermal wound dressing, with properties such as absorption of exudate liquid, quick drying, high mechanical properties, biocompatibility, and support for fibroblast cell growth. The characteristics of hollow PU/PLA nanofibers were compared to solid PU/PLA nanofibers, with hollow nanofibers being thinner and having a production range of 235-518 nm. The hollow PU/PLA nanofiber with a weight ratio of 20/80 showed the highest fibroblast cell viability.