Design and evaluation of graphene oxide/collagen scaffolds for application in tissue engineering

MARÍA VICTORIA CÁCERES; PABLO A. FERNÁNDEZ; GUSTAVO MORALES; NANCY A SALVATIERRA; ROMINA COMÍN; MARIANA P. CID

IFMBE PROCEEDINGS

sPRINGER

Año: 2023

1680-0737

Tissue engineering is intended for the reconstruction of lost tissue dueto destructive diseases such as inflammation and tumors, and requires three majorelements: cells, signalling molecules and scaffolds. A scaffold is an extracellularartificial matrix with three dimensions; it is highly porous, 3D printed, and able to hostand guide cells in their growth and in tissue regeneration. Currently, collagenhydrogels are the most popular material for cellular scaffolds, used successfully inclinical practice. Graphene oxide, graphene´s precursor in its synthesis, is a graphiteoxide monolayer; even though the study of its properties for tissue engineering is stillin its early stages, big results are expected. The project aims at designing, 3D printingand evaluating the features of collagen and graphene oxide scaffolds, for potentialapplications in tissue engineering. The ink obtained from these materials allowed loyalprintings, respecting structures and dimensions. The incorporation of graphene oxidein collagen scaffolds showed variations in their properties, keeping swelling ratio,decreasing porosity and solubility. Using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), wedistinguished pure graphene oxide from collagen in the scaffold, where we observedthe combination of both materials in micro-scale