Author: Yunn Yee Chan
Chan, Yunn Yee, 2025 The Multifunctional Bilayer Guided Tissue Regeneration Membrane: A Chitosan-Based Antibacterial Membrane Reinforced With Electrospun Gallium-Silver Silk Sericin Polycaprolactone Nanofiber, Flinders University, College of Medicine and Public Health
Terms of Use: This electronic version is (or will be) made publicly available by Flinders University in accordance with its open access policy for student theses. Copyright in this thesis remains with the author. You may use this material for uses permitted under the Copyright Act 1968. If you are the owner of any included third party copyright material and/or you believe that any material has been made available without permission of the copyright owner please contact copyright@flinders.edu.au with the details.
Periodontitis has affected millions worldwide and the conventional treatment modality of periodontitis has remained unchanged for many years. This widespread gum disease has resulted in tooth or implant loss and guided tissue regeneration surgery are often indicated for periodontal tissue regeneration. Traditional guided tissue regeneration (GTR) membrane only serves as a passive physical barrier which lack of antibacterial properties, essential for enhancing the surgical outcomes. In this study, a multifunctional bilayer membrane composed of a solvent casted chitosan layer and a porous nanofibrous layer engineered using electrospinning technology was developed. The top chitosan layer function to prevent epithelial migration into the bone defect while the bottom nanofiber layer, incorporated with various nanoparticle formulations (Ga-SS, GaAg-SS, GaAg-GSH-SS, AgNP) was designed replicate the architecture of extracellular matrix (ECM). SEM analysis validated the formation of bead free, compact nanofibers with uniform distributions and overall fiber diameter range between 278 to 761 nm, comparable to natural collagen fibrils. Among all tested formulations, GaAg-GSH-SS/PCL:Ch stands out with potent antibacterial efficacy with CFU reductions exceeding 3 log₁₀ and up to 88% bacterial load reduction. MTT results reported excellent cytocompatibility with HGF, macrophages, and MG-63 cells as demonstrated by high cell viability >95% with comparable cytoskeleton structure relative to control. These findings support the potential GaAg-GSH-SS/PCL:Ch as a promising multifunctional GTR membrane.
Keywords: guided tissue regeneration membrane, periodontitis, gallium liquid metal, silver nanoparticle, polycaprolactone, nanofiber, electrospinning
Subject: Biotechnology thesis
Thesis type: Masters
Completed: 2025
School: College of Medicine and Public Health
Supervisor: VI KHANH TRUONG