@article {17613,
	title = {Free-standing polyelectrolyte membranes made of chitosan and alginate},
	journal = {Biomacromolecules},
	volume = {14},
	year = {2013},
	month = {2013-04-16 00:00:00},
	pages = {1653-1660},
	publisher = {American Chemical Society},
	abstract = {<p style="text-align: justify;">Free-standing films have increasing applications\&nbsp;in the biomedical field as drug delivery systems for wound\&nbsp;healing and tissue engineering. Here, we prepared freestanding\&nbsp;membranes by the layer-by-layer assembly of chitosan\&nbsp;and alginate, two widely used biomaterials. Our aim was to\&nbsp;produce a thick membrane and to study the permeation of\&nbsp;model drugs and the adhesion of muscle cells. We first defined\&nbsp;the optimal growth conditions in terms of pH and alginate\&nbsp;concentration. The membranes could be easily detached from\&nbsp;polystyrene or polypropylene substrate without any postprocessing\&nbsp;step. The dry thickness was varied over a large\&nbsp;range from 4 to 35 μm. A 2-fold swelling was observed by confocal microscopy when they were immersed in PBS. In addition, we\&nbsp;quantified the permeation of model drugs (fluorescent dextrans) through the free-standing membrane, which depended on the\&nbsp;dextran molecular weight. Finally, we showed that myoblast cells exhibited a preferential adhesion on the alginate-ending\&nbsp;membrane as compared to the chitosan-ending membrane or to the substrate side.</p>},
	keywords = {Biomaterials, free-standing, layer-by-layer, membranes, POLYSACCHARIDES, self-assembly, Tissue engineering},
	isbn = {1526-4602},
	issn = {1525-7797},
	doi = {10.1021/bm400314s},
	url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/bm400314s},
	author = {Caridade, S. G. and Monge, C. and Gilde, F. and Boudou, T. and Mano, J. F. and Picart, C.}
}
