Fabrication of PVA Coatings Applied to Electrospun PLGA Scaffolds to Prevent Postoperative Adhesions

There is currently a demand for anti-adhesive materials that are capable of preventing the formation of intra-abdominal adhesions. In this study, electrospun poly(lactide-co-glycolide) scaffolds were dip-coated in aqueous solutions of polyvinyl alcohol with concentrations of 3 wt.%, 6 wt.% and 9 wt.% to obtain a nontoxic and anti-adhesive biomedical material. The viscosities of the applied 3 wt.%, 6 wt.% and 9 wt.% polyvinyl alcohol solutions were 7.7 mPa∙s, 38.2 mPa∙s and 180.8 mPa∙s, respectively, and increased exponentially. It is shown that increasing the viscosity of the polyvinyl alcohol solution from 6 wt.% to 9 wt.% increases the thickness of the polyvinyl alcohol layer from (3.32 ± 0.97) µm to (8.09 ± 1.43) µm. No pronounced polyvinyl alcohol layer can be observed on samples dip-coated in 3 wt.% PVA solution. Increasing the viscosity of the polyvinyl alcohol solution from 3 wt.% to 9 wt.% increases the mechanical properties of the poly(lactide-co-glycolide) samples by a factor of 1.16-1.45. Cytotoxicity analysis of all samples reveals that none is toxic to 3T3-L1 fibroblast cells. A cell adhesion assay indicates that the anti-adhesion properties increase with increasing viscosity of the polyvinyl alcohol solution and the thickness of the polyvinyl alcohol layer on the poly(lactide-co-glycolide) scaffolds. Fluorescence images of the cells show that as the thickness of the polyvinyl alcohol coating increases, the number of cells decreases, and they do not cover the surface of the samples and form spherical three-dimensional agglomerates. The highest mechanical and anti-adhesion properties are obtained with the poly(lactide-co-glycolide) scaffold sample dip-coated in the 9 wt.% polyvinyl alcohol solution. This is because this sample has the thickest polyvinyl alcohol coating.