Investigations of the morphology of chitin-based cell culture matrices and their influence on 3D tissue engineering

Tissue engineering is a multidisciplinary field that focuses on the development of biological substitutes to restore, maintain, or improve the function of damaged tissues or organs. These scaffolds are typically 3D porous structures designed to provide the structural support for cell attachment and subsequent tissue development. A 3D network termed “extracellular matrix” (ECM) is a physical scaffold for cells in our bodies. It is a complex network of proteins, carbohydrates, and other molecules that provide structural and biochemical support to surrounding cells in tissues. The ECM is crucial for various cellular functions and plays a vital role in tissue development, maintenance, and repair. Chitin is the second most abundant biopolymer, derived from natural resources, and a suitable substrate that modulates cell behavior during tissue regeneration, through unique interactions with glucosamine glycans (GAG-) of human tissue and proteoglycan (PG-) components. Additionally, chitin offers many desired properties such as biocompatibility, minimal inflammatory response, suitability for cellular attachment, proliferation and differentiation, biodegradability, and mechanical strength. It also promotes the proliferation of fibroblasts, dermal granulation, and vascularization when implanted into the body. Our research focused on determining microstructure-property relationships of solution-processed chitin TE constructs with various chitin contents and types, and revealing correlations between porousness, pore size, and other microarchitectural features of chitin constructs, depending on chitin type (macro-, micro- or nano- crystalline form), its molecular weight (high-, low-, nano-), solvent nature, drying techniques (supercritical drying sc-CO2, and lyophilization with various freezing temperatures: -20 oC, -196 oC)