Design of graphene oxide/gelatin electrospun nanocomposite fibers for tissue engineering applications

Abstract

Gelatin is a biodegradable, nontoxic and biocompatible biopolymer. The biomedical application of un-crosslinked gelatin is limited, due to poor mechanical strength and high solubility. Hence, 2D graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets are used as reinforcing agents to enhance the mechanical properties. The GO exfoliation in gelatin is confirmed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The GO reinforcement enhances Young modulus (E) by 70% and tensile stress is also significantly improved. Moreover, the fibrous cross-linked electrospun mats are stable in phosphate buffered saline solution. The cell attachment and proliferation of the ESM are evaluated with human osteosarcoma cells (HOS) and the ESM is found to be biocompatible. However, the expression of osteoblast genes decreases with increasing GO incorporation. This report demonstrates that GO with high degree of oxidation, effectively reinforces and enhances the mechanical properties of the gelatin fibers. Also, increasing the concentration of GO does not show any significant influence on cell viability and cell attachment even though the expression of osteoblast gene is affected.