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Fabrication and Development of a PCL Electrospun Fiber - Keratin Aerogel Scaffold to Mimic Bruch’s Membrane for the Study of Age-related Macular Degeneration

Zeng, Ziqian
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5300-6906
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1502103996594191

Abstract Details

2017, Master of Science, Miami University, Chemical, Paper and Biomedical Engineering.
Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is a retinal disease responsible for 8.7% of blindness globally, and it is predicted that 196 million people will be affected by the year 2020. Further, there is currently no cure for AMD. Early stage AMD is usually triggered by dysfunction of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), and the Bruch’s membrane is often invaded by abnormal angiogenesis around the retina as the disease progress. A biomimetic tissue engineered retinal scaffold may be beneficial in understanding disease etiology and also a possible restorative treatment for AMD. As a primary step toward the development of a tissue engineered retinal scaffold, this thesis focuses on the conceptualization, design, fabrication, and characterization of a scaffold system that combines electrospun polycaprolactone (PCL) fibers to mimic the Bruch’s membrane and keratin aerogel to provide structural support reminiscent of the retinal choroid. Results of this work demonstrate that PCL/keratin fibrous-aerogel shows morphological similarity to the native retinal Bruch’s membrane under SEM, tunable compressive modulus within a range similar to the native retinal extracellular matrix, and minimal toxicity to ARPE-19 cell line. Importantly, the formation of cell monolayers suggests that such system may be suitable as a model system for testing key parameters associated with retinal injury and/or regeneration.
Justin Saul (Advisor)
Michael Robinson (Committee Member)
Coffin Douglas (Committee Member)
78 p.
Biomedical Engineering
Electrospinning; Keratin aerogel; Age-related macular Degeneration

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Zeng, Z. (2017). Fabrication and Development of a PCL Electrospun Fiber - Keratin Aerogel Scaffold to Mimic Bruch’s Membrane for the Study of Age-related Macular Degeneration [Master's thesis, Miami University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1502103996594191

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Zeng, Ziqian. Fabrication and Development of a PCL Electrospun Fiber - Keratin Aerogel Scaffold to Mimic Bruch’s Membrane for the Study of Age-related Macular Degeneration. 2017. Miami University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1502103996594191.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Zeng, Ziqian. "Fabrication and Development of a PCL Electrospun Fiber - Keratin Aerogel Scaffold to Mimic Bruch’s Membrane for the Study of Age-related Macular Degeneration." Master's thesis, Miami University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1502103996594191

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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© 2017, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Fabrication and Development of a PCL Electrospun Fiber - Keratin Aerogel Scaffold to Mimic Bruch’s Membrane for the Study of Age-related Macular Degeneration by Ziqian Zeng is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by Miami University and OhioLINK.