Physical Properties of Biomimetic Fibrous Gelatin Networks

Preterm birth affects 10% of pregnancies worldwide, and the largest fraction of these untimely births is due to rupture of the amniotic sac. Biomimetic materials, such as electrospun fibrillar networks, show promise for patching the fetal membrane in cases of medical intervention, in which the tissue is transected. Here, gelatin membranes were generated in four different conditions, with and without crosslinking agents added to the electrospinning solution, plus with and without a heat treatment step to activate the crosslinkers. Drumhead puncture testing was used to measure elastic modulus and strength of electrospun materials. Stiffness was not affected by crosslinking condition, in contrast to failure strength. Results were compared with a previous study on fracture behavior of biomimetic electrospun materials, which demonstrated a third different trend in the same four material groups. Compared with natural amnion, electrospun materials were stiffer and stronger but less fracture resistant. Prior to application as a biomimetic tissue engineering scaffold, better understanding of structure-properties relationships in fibrillar materials is required.