Physicochemical Properties, Morphology and Functional Group Analyses of Gelatin Extracted from Croaker Fish (Pseudotolithus senegalensis) Scale for Suitability in Biomedical Applications

Authors: Ochulor EF, Gbenebor OP, Lawal IO

DOI Info: http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7496606

ABSTRACT

Challenges are evident during adoption of some biomaterials in tissue engineering (TM), due to their toxicity, immunogenicity, lack of biocompatibility, biodegradability, and bioactivity. Gelatin, a protein-based biopolymer bridges most of those gaps because it possesses good biocompatibility, biodegradability, bioactivity, cell-adhesive structure, and non-toxicity properties that can be adopted for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine (RM). In this study, gelatin was extracted from croaker fish scales using varying hydrochloric acid (HCl) concentrations of 1 M, 2 M, 3 M, 4 M, and 5 M, followed by water bath extraction at 60 ^oC for 5 hours. The extracts were oven-dried at 60 ^oC for 12 hours and physicochemical properties of extracts and characterization was carried out via Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was observed that the yield, viscosity, pH and gel strength of the gelatin decreased with an increase in acid molarity, with the highest yield, viscosity and gel strength of 56.15%, 3.98 cP, 199.8 g respectively observed at 1 M. FTIR spectra showed O-H, C=O, and N-H bond stretch, while SEM confirmed the presence of spongy porous structure. The properties of the gelatin extracted showed suitability to be adopted for the production of gelatin biomaterial and gelatin-based composites in tissue engineering.

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