Abstract The aim of this study was to incorporate tucuma oil (Astrocaryum vulgare) into PolyCaprolactone (PCL) electrospun fibers and evaluate its physicochemical properties and cell viability. FTIR and DRX confirmed that tucuma oil (TO) does not affect the chemical properties of PCL and that the oil was loaded into the PCL microstructure, while TGA analysis showed that the oil increased the thermal stability of the polymeric fibers. SEM showed that the addition of the oil modified fibers structure by reducing the average fiber size from 5.5 μm to 1.7 μm for TO loaded samples. Cell viability assay demonstrated an increment on cell proliferation from 80% of pure PCL to 100% for samples containing TO. Therefore, it can be concluded that tucuma oil can be incorporated into PCL to form fibers by electrospinning, without meaningful changes in its physicochemical properties and increasing its biocompatibility.

RESUMO A obtenção de scaffolds bioativos a partir da blenda polimérica de poli (ácido láctico-co-glicólico) (PLGA) e poliisopreno (IR) com diferentes adições de Hidroxiapatita (HAp) é proposta como uma alternativa à engenharia de tecidos. Para o preparo das soluções poliméricas, a blenda de PLGA/IR e a HAp foram dissolvidas em clorofórmio. Posteriormente, o scaffold foi processado por electrospinning, variando-se a distância entre a seringa e o coletor. As amostras foram caracterizadas quanto a composição química e estrutural por potencial zeta, difração de raios-X (DRX) e espectroscopia de infravermelho por transformada de Fourier (FTIR). Para avaliação da morfologia usou-se a microscopia eletrônica de varredura (MEV) e para o comportamento citotoxicológico utilizou-se a metodologia de analises de viabilidade celular. O valor de potencial zeta da HAp foi de -22 mV e o FTIR e DRX foram condizentes com a literatura. As imagens de MEV permitiram a análise do tamanho médio e desvio padrão das fibras obtidas, comprovando uma diferença significativa entre as amostras. O ensaio de citotoxicidade mostrou que o produto obtido é biocompatível, porém as amostras com menor formação de fibras são menos biocompatíveis. Os resultados demonstraram a ampla influência da distância entre o coletor e a ponta da seringa e da relação blenda/HAp, sendo que o scaffold obtido com a maior distância coletor/seringa e maior relação HAp/blenda apresentou fibras com tamanho médio menores e maior homogeneidade e baixa citotoxicidade celular.

ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is the obtainment of bioactive scaffolds from poly (lactic acid-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) and polyisoprene (IR) polymer blends with different additions of hydroxyapatite (HAp) as an alternative for tissue engineering. For the preparation of the polymer solutions, the PLGA/IR blend and the HAp were dissolved in chloroform. Subsequently, the scaffold was processed by electrospinning, varying the dis-tance between the syringe and the collector. Scaffolds chemical and phase composition were characterized by zeta potential, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to evaluate the morphology and for the cytotoxic behavior the cellular viability analysis methodology was used. The zeta potential value of the HAp was -22 mV and the FTIR and XRD were consistent with the literature. The SEM images allowed the analysis of the mean size and standard deviation of the obtained fibers, demonstrating a significant difference among the samples. The results showed the great influence of the distance between the collector and the tip of the syringe and the blend/HAp ratio, and the scaffold obtained with the largest collector/ syringe distance and the highest HAp/blend ratio showed fibers with a smaller mean size and greater homogeneity and low cellular cytotoxicity.