Preparation of alginate membrane for tissue engineering

Abstract

Sodium alginate was provided with good processibility according to physical and chemical characterization of itself. Alginate scaffold has been used for preparation of soft or hard tissue engineering, but the structure of the scaffold needs to be improved for better performance for skin tissue engineering. In this study, highly porous alginate membrane was formed with ionic crosslinking. High molecular weight (Mw = 3.0 × 105) alginate showed the best film-forming property. Therefore, the appropriate molecular weight should be selected for improving its performance. With freeze-drying technology and pre-freezing at -10°C, we have built the honeycomb materials (porosity = 92.06%). Changing the pre-freezing temperature can regulate pore structure to some extent. With the increased dosage of sodium alginate, the porosity and the pore size of the materials were reduced, whereas tensile strength and elongation at break increased. Water absorption performance of the materials was good. The above studies lay a foundation for construction of skin tissue engineering scaffold.