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| Author(s): |
Daniel de Souza Alcobia
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Master's Dissertation |
| Press: | São Paulo. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Conjunto das Químicas (IQ e FCF) (CQ/DBDCQ) |
| Defense date: | 2013-12-03 |
| Examining board members: |
Luiz Henrique Catalani;
Jonas Gruber;
Ronaldo Fumio Hashimoto
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| Advisor: | Luiz Henrique Catalani |
| Abstract | |
Electrospinning is a celebrated technique of polymer processing, able to produce fibers with nanometric diameter. Common assembly of electrospinning apparatus allows collection of random fibers in a non-woven matt. Several modifications on this assembly enable different fiber morphologies to be obtained. Such modifications are revised and discussed in this work. In the production of cell growth scaffolds, its interesting that some anisotropy is incorporated in the medium. Therefore, an electrospinning apparatus capable of producing aligned fibers was constructed. Variation of processing parameters of said apparatus enabled different alignment qualities of fibers to be attained for two biodegradable polymers. Many parameters influenced on the quality of said alignment; fiber collection speed, however, proved more impacting, in accordance with literature data. Fiber morphology was assessed in regard to its diameter with the aid of MEV micrographs and ImageJ software. Furthermore, assessment of fiber alignment quality was sought. For this matter, it has been developed a quantification methodology for fiber alignment quality, based on micrographs and ImageJ\'s FFT tool. The proposed methodology was able to objectively and consistently rank fiber alignment quality, even when visual analysis (used as reference) failed to do so. This methodology was incorporated in a plugin for ImageJ, via Java script algorithm. With the aid of this plugin it was feasible to process several micrographs, taken from electrospun mats at different spots and magnifications. This helped create statistics about obtained results of fiber alignment quality, on an unprecedented approach in written literature. Electrospun mats with varying quality in fiber alignment were used as substrate in the culture of neural precursor cells from neurospheres to assess the influence of contact guidance on migration and differentiation of such cells (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 10/14720-7 - Production of aligned nanofibers from biodegradable polymers for growth and regeneration of neuronal cells |
| Grantee: | Daniel de Souza Alcobia |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Master |