PHYSICOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF GELATIN-CMC COMPOSITE EDIBLES FILMS FROM POLYION-COMPLEX HYDROGELS

This study is concerned to elucidate the interaction behavior of films consisted of gelatin and carboxymethylcellulose, which are polyelectrolytes and have applications in tissues engineering. These films were chemically cross-linked using glutaraldehyde. The decrease of framework in triple helix of gelatin in the presence of polysaccharide and/or the cross-linking agent increases until a total disappearance was showed by XRD, the disappearance of macroporous gelatin structure in the presence of additives has been confirmed by SEM and AFM. According to DSC analysis, glass transition temperature (Tg) increases and decreases as GTA and CMC were added, respectively. It was shown that swelling of macroporous structure in pseudophysiological mediums was more absorbent and used electrolytes exert an osmotic pressure or ionic strength inducing higher swelling. Also, it was found that diffusion mechanism is directly related to gelatin structure. On the other hand, the incorporation of CMC improves the flexibility of matrice.