Developing an economical fibrous gelatin-polyurethane scaffold for skin regeneration

Statement of Purpose: Wound healing is vital for patients with complex wounds including burns. While the gold standard of skin transplantation ensures a surgical treatment to heal wounds, it has its limitations, including in many cases a limited availability of skin to graft. Current skin substitute technologies remain expensive and require significant clinical management of the skin wounds. Therefore, tissue engineered skin has become a significant strategy of valued interest to the field. Gelatin is an economical, natural biomaterial which is frequently used for tissue engineering applications¹. However, it suffers from a lack of sufficient mechanical strength, fast degradation. The aim of this study was to conceive and characterize a hybrid acellular scaffold that would inherently promote skin regeneration, while undergoing resorption. It was hypothesized that adding 20% biodegradable polycarbonate polyurethane (PU)^2-3 to gelatin would improve the mechanical properties and degradation rate of electrospun gelatin without alteration in the cell behavior.