(62n) Mechanical and Cell Adhesion Properties of Alkylated Chitosan

Chitosan is a biomaterial of interest due to high availability, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. However, improvements in tensile strength and cell adhesion may broaden its use as a scaffold in many tissue engineering applications. The primary amino groups on chitosan provide a site for many grafting reactions that can increase the tensile strength and cell adhesion properties of the polymer. In this study, the effects of N-alkylation on the mechanical and cell adhesion properties of chitosan films were investigated. Chitosan was alkylated with the fatty acids hexadecanoic acid (C16), and decanoic acid (C10), using the carbodiimide EDC to achieve degrees of substitution (DS) ranging from 5-30%. Uniaxial tensile testing of the films showed that 5% DS hexadecanoic acid and 5% DS decanoic acid both improved the maximum tensile strength of chitosan by 12.5% and 3.8%, respectively. For both fatty acids, higher DS values resulted in reduced tensile strength. Preliminary cell culture studies suggested that valvular interstitial cells seeded on cast films exhibited reductions in growth rate with increased DS. Results to date indicate that derivatization with long chain fatty acids improved chitosan mechanical properties at low DS. Cell adhesion and proliferation studies are under way and results will be reported.