A hybrid scaffold of gelatin glycosaminoglycan matrix and fibrin as a carrier of human corneal fibroblast cells

Abstract A hybrid scaffold of gelatin-glycosaminoglycan matrix and fibrin (FGG) has been synthesized to improve the mechanical properties, degradation time and cell response of fibrin-like scaffolds. The FGG scaffold was fabricated by optimizing some properties of fibrin-only gel and gelatin-glycosaminoglycan (GG) scaffolds. Mechanical analysis of optimized fibrin-only gel showed the Young module and tensile strength of up to 72 and 121 KPa, respectively. Significantly, the nine-fold increase in the Young modulus and a seven-fold increase in tensile strength was observed when fibrin reinforced with GG scaffold. Additionally, the results demonstrated that the degradation time of fibrin was enhanced successfully up to 7 days which was much longer time compared to fibrin-only gel with 38 h of degradation time. More than 45% of FGG initial mass was preserved on day 7 in the presence of aprotinin. Human corneal fibroblast cells (HCFCs) were seeded on the FGG, fibrin-only gel and GG scaffolds for 5 days. The FGG scaffold showed excellent cell viability over 5 days, and the proliferation of HCFCs also increased significantly in comparison with fibrin-only gel and GG scaffolds. The FGG scaffold illustrates the great potential to use in which appropriate stability and mechanical properties are essential to tissue functionality.