Nanostructured bioactive material based on polycaprolactone and polyaniline fiber-scaffolds

• Up to 20 wt% polyaniline (PANI) in poly-ɛ-caprolactone (PCL) mats were electrospun.
• L929 fibroblasts showed healthy dendritic proliferation on PCL/PANI fibers.
• PCL/PANI fibers showed excellent antibacterial and radical-scavenging properties.

Fiber-scaffolds consisting of poly-ɛ-caprolactone (PCL) and polyaniline (PANI) were obtained from electrospinning of PCL solutions, in chloroform/methanol, containing nanofibrous polyaniline (nfPANI). The resultant fiber-scaffolds diameters are 155 ± 55 nm (neat PCL) to 144 ± 59 nm (PCL containing 20% w/w PANI). Incorporating PANI (20% w/w) in PCL resulted in improvements of physical properties, including: increased in electrical conductivity; improved hydrophilicity; and increased in free radical-scavenging capacity (2,2-diphenycl-1-picrylhydrazyl, DPPH). The cytotoxicity of PCL/PANI fiber-scaffolds was determined by proliferation of L929 fibroblast cells on the scaffolds collected on glass substrates. Cell attachment and proliferation of L929 cells on the fiber-scaffolds were not affected by the presence of PANI; and the morphologies of L929 cells were indistinguishable to those grown on tissue culture plates (TCP), suggesting PCL/PANI scaffolds are non-toxic and could potentially be suitable for biomedical applications.

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