Facile modification of polycaprolactone nanofibers with hydroxyapatite doped with thallium ions for wound and mucosal healing applications

Abstract

The design of biomaterials for wound and mucosal healing is pivotal to keep a high level of health care. Scaffolds of polycaprolactone (PCL) encapsulated with hydroxyapatite that has been modified via different contributions of thallium (Tl) ions having the formula of [Tl2xCa10-x(PO4)6-x(OH)2] have been fabricated. The obtained results showed that the maximum height of the roughness (Rt) of the fabricated Tl-HAP@PCL nanofiber has increased from 612 to 819 nm, depending on the content of Tl+ ions. Moreover, the contact angle exhibited a significant decrease from 97.21° at 0.0Tl-HAP@PCL to 29.01° for 1.0Tl-HAP@PCL. Importantly, mechanical properties measurements' showed that the maximum strain at the break has deteriorated from 131.7 ± 4.3 to 129.31 ± 4.6% for the lowest and the highest Tl contribution. The scaffolds’ performance in a wound and mucosal treatments might be triggered upon the development of cell viability. In view of these findings, the fabricated Tl-HAP@PCL composites have evidently an efficient wound dressing capability and cell viability that make these nanofibers promising candidates for other related medical/clinical applications.

Keywords

• Hydroxyapatite
• Polycaprolactone
• Wound healing