Aromatic π-Conjugated Curcumin on Surface Modified Polyaniline/Polyhydroxyalkanoate Based 3D Porous Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering Applications.

Curcumin-entrapped polyaniline (PAni)-conjugated poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) electroconductive porous scaffolds were fabricated for application in tissue engineering. The physical and chemical characterizations of the as-prepared biomaterials were performed by UV-vis and ATR/FT-IR spectrophotometric, thermogravimetric, fluorescence microscopic, and X-ray diffractometric analyses. It was observed that compared to the pure PHBV copolymer, which is an insulator, the electroconductivity of the PAni-modified PHBV copolymer increased up to the value of 5.78 × 10-5 S cm-1. An antimicrobial study revealed that the curcumin-loaded biomaterials exhibited better bactericidal effect against Gram-positive bacterial strains compared to Gram-negative strains. The composite also demonstrated significant compatibility toward blood and fibroblast cells and exhibited the maximum cell viability (90% to 80%). Cell migration and proliferation on the injured tissues were found to occur at a faster rate, resulting in faster repair, in the presence of anti-inflammatory and anticancer curcumin drug loaded composites compared to that of the pure PHBV copolymer.