Extracción de nanocelulosa vegetal a partir de residuos de banano (Musa paradisiaca) y su aplicación en andamios biológicos

Abstract

The wound healing process is highly complex and alterations in its pathway can cause severe scenarios with high economic cost. Tissue Engineering (TE) combines cells, scaffolds, and growth factors to give rise to new tissue. Scaffolds function as a support for cell growth and are fabricated with synthetic or natural biopolymers. Nanocellulose is a natural polymer that can be obtained from renewable sources, such as banana waste. This study focused on the extraction of nanocellulose from banana waste and its subsequent application in the fabrication of biological scaffolds for future research in the healing of chronic wounds. Banana nanocellulose was extracted by hydrolysis with sulfuric acid and ultrasound. Its morphology was evaluated by inverted light microscopy and SEM. In addition, the main functional groups present in nanocellulose were analyzed by FTIR. Subsequently, nanocellulose, chitosan, and nanocellulose whit chitosan scaffolds were prepared by freeze-drying in order to evaluate the characteristics of nanocellulose versus other biopolymers. Scaffolds were then evaluated by SEM, porosity tests, water absorption capacity and biodegradability tests. A yield of 23.8 percent of extracted nanocellulose was obtained. The scaffolds composite of nanocellulose and chitosan showed the best results with an average pore size of 110.13 micrometers with 88.94 percent. porosity, 2418.32 percent of water adsorption and an ability to degrade in 16 days. The results, suggest that these scaffold have potential to be applied in TE research related to wound healing and tissue regeneration.