Enhancing Cell Growth with PAN/PVA-Gelatin 3D Scaffold: A Novel Approach using In-situ UV Radiation Electrospinning and Plasma Treatment

Abstract

Abstract The hydrophobic nature of synthetic polymers poses a substantial barrier since it limits cell-seeding and proliferation scaffold performance. To overcome this challenge, the present research attempts to employ in-situ UV electrospinning and plasma surface modification techniques to fabricate a three-dimensional PAN/PVA-gelatin scaffold. The proposed scaffold holds great potential in mitigating hydrophobicity limitations, thereby facilitating enhanced cell adhesion and proliferation. The SEM results indicated that exposure to UV irradiation resulted in the formation of wavy shapes in the PAN microstructures and crosslinking between fibers within the scaffold. Moreover, plasma treatment induced the formation of pores on the PAN surface, with an average diameter of 43 µm, corresponding to the size range of mouse fibroblast cells. Furthermore, the plasma treatment provided roughness augmentation of the scaffold surface, which played a crucial role in enhancing cell adhesion and elongation on the modified scaffold surface. Comparatively, the plasma-modified scaffolds exhibited a higher proportion of viable cells than the unmodified scaffolds (p < 0.05). Moreover, the implementation of perforations in the PAN layer via plasma treatment reduced the number of necrosis cells in comparison to the other samples. In contrast, the unmodified scaffold showed a higher percentage of apoptosis cells (p < 0.05).