Porous Chitosan Films Supports Stem Cells and Facilitates Sutureless Tissue Repair

Photochemical tissue bonding (PTB) with chitosan-based adhesive films is an experimental surgical technique that avoids the risk of thermal tissue injuries and the use of sutures to maintain strong tissue connection. This technique is advantageous over other tissue repair methods as its minimally invasive and does not require premixing of multiple components before or during application. To expand the capability of the film to beyond just a tissue bonding device and promote tissue regeneration, in this study, we designed bioadhesive films that could also support stem cells. The films were modified with oligomeric chitosan to tune their erodibility and made porous through freeze drying for better tissue integration. Of note, porous adhesive films (pore diameter ~ 110 µm), with 10% of the chitosan being oligomeric, could retain similar tissue bonding strengths (13─15 kPa) to that of the non-porous chitosan-based adhesives used in previous studies when photoactivated. When tested in vitro, these films exhibi...