Incorporation of FGF-2 into Pharmaceutical Grade Fucoidan/Chitosan Polyelectrolyte Multilayers

• Main Authors: Natalie L. Benbow, Samuel Karpiniec, Marta Krasowska, David A. Beattie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-10-01
• Series: Marine Drugs
• Subjects: fucoidan; chitosan; fibroblast growth factor-2; polyelectrolyte multilayer; infrared spectroscopy; quartz crystal microbalance
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/18/11/531

Biopolymer polyelectrolyte multilayers are a commonly studied soft matter system for wound healing applications due to the biocompatibility and beneficial properties of naturally occurring polyelectrolytes. In this work, a popular biopolymer, chitosan, was combined with the lesser known polysaccharide, fucoidan, to create a multilayer film capable of sequestering growth factor for later release. Fucoidan has been shown to act as a heparin-mimic due to similarities in the structure of the two molecules, however, the binding of fibroblast growth factor-2 to fucoidan has not been demonstrated in a multilayer system. This study assesses the ability of fucoidan to bind fibroblast growth factor-2 within a fucoidan/chitosan polyelectrolyte multilayer structure using attenuated total internal reflectance infrared spectroscopy and quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring. The fibroblast growth factor-2 was sequestered into the polyelectrolyte multilayer as a cationic layer in the uppermost layers of the film structure. In addition, the diffusion of fibroblast growth factor-2 into the multilayer has been assessed.