Micro/nanofiber polyurethane scaffolds with functional properties

F. MONTINI BALLARÍN; F. BUFFA; G.A. ABRAHAM

Los Cocos, Córdoba, Argentina

Simposio; V Simposio Chileno-Argentino de Polímeros, ARCHIPOL; 2009

Tissue engineering and regenerative medice aim to develop biological substitutes that restore, maintain or, improve the damaged tissue and the organs functionality. The advances in nanotechnology in the last years can solve some of the many issues related to the problems of the traditional implants (Zhang and Webster, 2009). The nanofibrous polymeric scaffolds have biomimetic features and can create an extracellular matrix architecture in a nanoscale way. This morphologic characteristic favors and stimulates the expression of specific signals, and in combination with grown factors, proteins and therapeutic agents have an important influence in the in vitro and in vivo cellular activity (Mikhalovsky et al., 2004). Among the techniques available for preparing nanofibrous scaffolds, electrospinning is the most versatile and attractive and offers the possibility to manipulate and control the surface area, fiber diameter, porosity, and pore size (Lannutti et al., 2007; Venugopal et al., 2005). Recognizing the importance of electrical and mechanical properties for several tissue reconstruction, conductive nanofibrous scaffolds are interesting matrices for tissue engineering and biotechnological applications. In this work, we present the preparation and characterization of polyurethane nanocomposites scaffolds by electrospinning. The studied parameters showed an influence in the macro and micromorphology of the prepared systems. The addition of nanoparticles (carbon nanotubes) allowed the preparation of nanocomposites with morphological and functional features. The obtained nanofibrous scaffolds results of interest for applications in biomedics devices and tissue engineering.