Biological behaviors of keratinocytes cultured on chitosan-gelatin membrane

Chitin/Chitosan membrane has been used as wound dressing materials to facilitate clinical wound healing for many years. However, there are fewer articles studying the cell-biomaterial interaction in vitro or in vivo. In this study, the biological characteristics of human keratinocytes cultured on chitosan membrane that was mixed with gelatin in different ratio were investigated in vitro. Chitosan-gelatin membrane (CGM) in different ratio were prepared with N, N-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-N'-ethyl carbodiimide (EDC). CGMs were divided into four groups: pure chitosan membrane, 7:3 (chitosan: gelatin), 5:5 and 3:7 groups. Human keratinocytes were isolated from foreskin by Dispase/Trypsin-EDTA digestion. Keratinocytes of passage3 were then seeded on the surface of CGM. Cloning forming efficiency (CFE) and migration distance of cultured keratinocytes on CGM were measured. The CFE of keratinocytes cultured on the surface of pure chitosan membrane was 9.8 +/- 2.08%; cultured on 7:3 CGM was 14.33 +/- 1.53%, 5:5 CGM was 19.17 +/- 1.26%, 3:7 CGM was 18.33 +/- 2.08%. The migration distance of cultured keratinocytes on pure chitosan membrane was 61.47 +/- 2.70 mu m, 7:3 CGM was 66.22 +/- 9.39 mu m, 5:5 CGM was 120.31 +/- 15.82 mu m, 3:7 CGM was 225.38 +/- 10.48 mu m. This sutdy demonstrated that increasing contents of gelatin in CGM could promote keratinocyte proliferation and migration. The results also suggested the membrane prepared from chitosan and gelatin can be utilized as a good keratinocyte delivery system.