Development of electrospun collagen composite nanofibrous scaffold with "green" solvent

Collagen has been used extensively in tissue engineering applications to promote wound healing. Religious restrictions and risk of disease transmission from primary (bovine/porcine) sources of collagen have paved way for the study of an alternative collagen source. Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) fish collagen has now emerged as a potential alternative. Electrospinning is a tissue engineering technique in producing ECM-mimicking collagen nanofibrous scaffolds used for potential wound healing applications. Current electrospinning solvents utilizes toxic hexafluoro isopropanol (HFIP) in nanofiber production. Research efforts are now focused on replacing HFIP with environmentally benign solvents. In this study, electrospinning Tilapia fish skin and scale collagen using PBS/Ethanol was carried out. The operational parameters (voltage, flow rate & distance from needle to collector) was optimised and tests on solvent composition was carried out to produce electrospun samples. Samples were crosslinked and were subjected to diameter measurement, porosity estimation, SEM, SDS-PAGE, FTIR and DSC. Electrospun fish skin collagen with higher ethanol content produced nanofibers in the range of 600-1200 nm. Crosslinking caused increase in nanofiber diameter and reduced porosity. Solvent composition and collagen stability was found to play a key role in producing a nanofibrous morphology.Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering