Pyridine as an additive to improve the deposition of continuous electrospun filaments

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 14; no. 4; p. e0214419
• Main Authors: Lach, Antonina A, Morris, Hayley L, Martins, Joana A, Stace, Edward T, Carr, Andrew J, Mouthuy, Pierre-Alexis
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 25.04.2019; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Alkaloids; Biomaterials; Biomedical materials; Biomedical research; Biophysical Phenomena; Cold drawing; Collectors; Crystalline polymers; Deposition; Electric Conductivity; Electric properties; Electrospinning; Engineering; Fibers; Filament yarns; Filaments; Humans; Hypotheses; Materials; Mechanical properties; Morphology; Nanofibers - chemistry; Polydioxanone - chemistry; Polyesters - chemistry; Polymers; Production management; Pyridine; Pyridines; Pyridines - chemistry; Rheumatology; Solutions - chemistry; Surgery; Sutures; Technology; Tensile Strength; Tissue Scaffolds - chemistry; Yarn; Yarns; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US; Germany
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0214419

Electrospun filaments are leading to a new generation of medical yarns that have the ability to enhance tissue healing through their biophysical cues. We have recently developed a technology to fabricate continuous electrospun filaments by depositing the submicron fibres onto a thin wire. Here we investigate the influence of pyridine on the fibre deposition. We have added pyridine to polydioxanone solutions at concentrations ranging from 0 to 100 ppm, increasing the conductivity of the solutions almost linearly from 0.04 uS/cm to 7 uS/cm. Following electrospinning, this led to deposition length increasing from 1 cm to 14 cm. The samples containing pyridine easily underwent cold drawing. The strength of drawn filaments increased from 0.8 N to 1.5 N and this corresponded to a decrease in fibre diameter, with values dropping from 2.7 μm to 1 μm. Overall, these findings are useful to increase the reliability of the manufacturing process of continuous electrospun filaments and to vary their biophysical properties required for their application as medical yarns such as surgical sutures.