Cytotoxicity tests for nanostructured chitosan/PEO membranes using the agar diffusion method

Electrospinning is used to produce fibers in the nanometer range by stretching a polymeric jet using electric fields of high magnitude. Chitosan is an abundant natural polymer that can be used to obtain biocompatible nanostructured membranes. The objectives of this work were to obtain nanostructured membranes based on blends of chitosan and polyoxyethylene (PEO), and evaluate their thermal and morphological properties, as well as their in vitro biocompatibility by agar diffusion cytotoxicity tests for three different cell lines. A nanostructured fibrous membrane with fiber diameters in the order of 200 nm was obtained, which presented a rough surface and thickness ranging from one to two millimeters. The results of the cytotoxicity tests evidenced that the chitosan/PEO membranes are non-toxic to the cells studied in this work. Further, the electrospinning technique was effective in obtaining nanostructured chitosan/PEO membranes, which showed biocompatibility according to in vitro preliminary tests using the cell lines.