Electrospinning and antibacterial activity of chitosan-blended poly(lactic acid) nanofibers

• Published in: Journal of polymer research Vol. 22; no. 4; p. 1
• Main Authors: Hardiansyah, Andri, Tanadi, Hartanto, Yang, Ming-Chien, Liu, Ting-Yu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.04.2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Original Paper; Polymer Sciences; Electrospinning; Antibacterial activity; Chitosan; PLA; Cytocompatibility
• ISSN: 1022-9760; 1572-8935
• DOI: 10.1007/s10965-015-0704-8

In this study, chitosan-blended poly(lactic acid) (PLA) nanofibers were fabricated via electrospinning process by using a solvent composing of chloroform, water, acetic acid, and ethanol. In particular, the introduction of ethanol made acetic acid/water and chloroform miscible. The resultant chitosan-blended PLA nanofibers were subject to characterization including scanning electron microscope (SEM), UV-visible spectroscopy, fluorescence microscope and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The average diameter of chitosan-blended PLA nanofibers decreased with increasing chitosan content. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of chitosan-blended PLA nanofibers against Eschericia coli was 0.015 g/mL when chitosan to PLA ratio was 4 wt%. Furthermore, chitosan-blended PLA nanofibers exhibited no cytotoxicity to the L-929 cells, suggesting cytocompatibility. These results show that chitosan and PLA can be blended without using highly-toxic solvent and the electrospun chitosan-blended PLA nanofibers can potentially be employed for biomedical applications.