@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 = {
Free-standing films have increasing applications\ in the biomedical field as drug delivery systems for wound\ healing and tissue engineering. Here, we prepared freestanding\ membranes by the layer-by-layer assembly of chitosan\ and alginate, two widely used biomaterials. Our aim was to\ produce a thick membrane and to study the permeation of\ model drugs and the adhesion of muscle cells. We first defined\ the optimal growth conditions in terms of pH and alginate\ concentration. The membranes could be easily detached from\ polystyrene or polypropylene substrate without any postprocessing\ step. The dry thickness was varied over a large\ range from 4 to 35 μm. A 2-fold swelling was observed by confocal microscopy when they were immersed in PBS. In addition, we\ quantified the permeation of model drugs (fluorescent dextrans) through the free-standing membrane, which depended on the\ dextran molecular weight. Finally, we showed that myoblast cells exhibited a preferential adhesion on the alginate-ending\ membrane as compared to the chitosan-ending membrane or to the substrate side.
},
	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.}
}