Exogenous electrical stimulation (ES) facilitates skin wound healing and accelerates cell proliferation. Scaffolds fabricated with electrically-conductive materials combined with ES further promote cellular activity. Here, an electrospun membrane made of poly (lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) coated with chitosan (CS) via polydopamine (PDA) serving as a linker was developed and evaluated in vitro for the proliferation and migration of fibroblast cells involved in skin wound repair. PLGA/PDA/CS exhibited multiple optimal characteristics for cell proliferation and dressing materials including good mechanical properties, low cytotoxicity, a super-hydrophilic surface, and an excellent swelling ratio suitable for the absorption of wound exudates. Because of ionic charges, wet PLGA/PDA/CS had an electrical conductivity of 2.85 × 10-3 S/cm, which was comparable to the highest electrical conductivities observed with natural skin. Upon intermittent ES of 100 mV, PLGA/PDA/CS increased fibroblast proliferation 2 and 1.3 times compared to PLGA and PLGA/PDA, respectively. These results demonstrate the potential of PLGA/PDA/CS as a biodegradable polymeric surface for the ES of cells involved in skin wound healing. It also shows that polymers with low electrical conductivity in dry conditions can become suitable for the ES of humid wounds where ionic conductivity is occurring.
Keywords: Cell proliferation; Chitosan; Electrostimulation; Poly(lactide-co-glycolide); Polydopamine.
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