Fabrication of nonwoven fabrics consisting of gelatin nanofibers cross-linked by glutaraldehyde or N-acetyl-d-glucosamine by aqueous method

Since gelatin (Gel) undergoes a sol-gel transition, a novel dry-spinning procedure for Gel was used. Here, nonwoven fabrics of Gel were electrospun by applying the principles of dry spinning. The diameter of the fibers and the viscosity and flow rate of the solution were directly dependent on the concentration of Gel. Nonwoven fabrics spun with a 25% (w/w) Gel concentration only exhibited a nanoscale fiber diameter. In order to improve the properties of the nonwoven fabrics, they were cross-linked with glutaraldehyde (GTA) vapor after spinning or by the addition of N-acetyl-d-glucosamine (GlcNAc) to the Gel solution prior to spinning followed by heating these fibers. The developed nonwoven fibers were characterized using SEM, rheometry, FTIR, TGA, and mechanical tensile testing. The nonwoven fabrics cross-linked by the GTA vapor exhibited improved mechanical properties compared to those without cross-linking or with GlcNAc cross-linking. The swelling and water uptake ability resulted in no morphological changes in the fibers with GTA cross-linking. The TGA thermogram confirmed no phase change in the composite structure. Further, in vitro cytocompatibility studies using human mesenchymal stem cells showed the compatible nature of the developed nonwoven fibers. Our studies showed that these nonwoven fibers could be useful in medical care.