Production of a novel medium chain length poly(3-hydroxyalkanoate) using unprocessed biodiesel waste and its evaluation as a tissue engineering scaffold

Summary This study demonstrated the utilization of unprocessed biodiesel waste as a carbon feedstock for Pseudomonas mendocinaCH50, for the production of PHAs. A PHA yield of 39.5% CDM was obtained using 5% (v/v) biodiesel waste substrate. Chemical analysis confirmed that the polymer produced was poly(3-hydroxyhexanoate-co-3-hydroxyoctanoate-co-3-hydroxydecanoate-co-3-hydroxydodecanoate) or P(3HHx-3HO-3HD-3HDD). P(3HHx-3HO-3HD-3HDD) was further characterized and evaluated for its use as a tissue engineering scaffold (TES). This study demonstrated that P(3HHx-3HO-3HD-3HDD) was biocompatible with the C2C12 (myoblast) cell line. In fact, the % cell proliferation of C2C12 on the P(3HHx-3HO-3HD-3HDD) scaffold was 72% higher than the standard tissue culture plastic confirming that this novel PHA was indeed a promising new material for soft tissue engineering.