PCL/CHITOSAN BLENDED NANOFIBROUS TUBES MADE BY DUAL SYRINGE ELECTROSPINNING

3D tubular scaffolds made from Poly-(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL)/chitosan (CS) nanofibres are very promising candidate as vascular grafts in the field of tissue engineering. In this work, the fabrication of PCL/CS-blended nanofibrous tubes with small diameters by electrospinning from separate PCL and CS solutions is studied. The influence of different CS solutions (CS/polyethylene glycol (PEO)/glacial acetic acid (AcOH), CS/trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), CS/AcOH) on fibre formation and producibility of nanofibrous tubes is investigated. Attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) is used to verify the presence of CS in the blended samples. Tensile testing and pore size measurements are done to underline the good prerequisites of the fabricated blended PCL/CS nanofibrous tubes as potential scaffolds for vascular grafts. Tubes fabricated from the combination of PCL and CS dissolved in AcOH possesses properties, which are favourable for future cell culture studies.