Fabrication and Characterization of Polycaprolactone/ Chlorophyllin Sodium Copper Salt Nanofibrous Mats from 2,2,2-Trifluoroethanol Solution by Electrospinning

The aim of this study is to investigate electrospinning of polycaprolactone (PCL)- blend chlorophyllin sodium copper salt (CSC) to prepare biodegradable nanofibrous mats for fabricating tissue engineering scaffold. For a suitable biofunctional tissue engineering scaffold, one of the most important factors was that the scaffold should provide enough space for the living cells. Therefore, by adding a non-toxic salt into the nanofibrous mats it was possible to attain this goal. In this study, PCL/CSC nanofibrous mats were tested by scanning electron microscopy (SEM); and the mechanical properties of nanofibrous mats with or without CSC were tested by a universal mechanical testing machine. The crystallized property was investigated by an Xray diffraction (XRD) instrument. The degradation property and CSC released behaviour were also tested in this study. SEM examinations revealed that the PCL/CSC nanofibres with 20% CSC lose their fibrous structure. For evaluation of the performance of PCL/CSC nanofibrous mats as scaffolds which could provide sufficient space for the cells, the mats were examined for weight loss and CSC release tests. The results demonstrated that the PCL/CSC nanofibrous mats could lose most of the CSC in the first several hours, which may provide more space for cells anchorage and proliferation. We conclude that combination of CSC into PCL nanofibrous mats is feasible for fabricating a novel tissue engineering scaffold.