Glycerol-blended chitosan membranes with directional micro-grooves and reduced stiffness improve Schwann cell wound healing.

Regenerative medicine is continuously looking for new natural biocompatible and possibly biodegradable materials, but also mechanically compliant. Chitosan is emerging as a promising FDA-approved biopolymer for tissue engineering, however, its exploitation in regenerative devices is limited by its brittleness and can be further improved, for example, by blending it with other materials or by tuning its superficial microstructure.
Here, we developed membranes made of chitosan and glycerol, by solvent casting and micropatterned them with directional geometries with different levels of axial symmetry. These membranes were characterized by light microscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM), thermal, mechanical, and degradation assays, and also tested in vitro as scaffolds with Schwann cells.
The glycerol-blended chitosan membranes are optimized in terms of mechanical properties, and present a physiological-grade Young's modulus (≈ 0.7 MPa). The directional topographies are effective in directing cell polarization and migration and in particular are highly performant substrates for collective cell migration.
Here, we demonstrate that a combination of a soft compliant biomaterial and topographical micropatterning can improve the integration of these scaffolds with Schwann cells, which is a fundamental step in the peripheral nerve regeneration process.&#xD.