4. Conclusion
Electrospinning cellulose acetate and cellulose acetate with annatto extract yielded nanofibers with porous structures and no specific alignment. Annatto extract provided a significant increase in the wetness of the nanofiber, boosting biocompatibility, but did not significantly affect the chemical or thermal stability of the nanofibers. Mechanical analysis suggested that the annatto extract acts as a plasticizer between the polymer molecules.
In vitro testing confirmed that the porous nature of electrospun nanofibers permits cell migration and potential formation of multiple layers of muscle-like tissue, an essential property for meat cultivation. The nanofibers loaded with annatto extract were seen to induce myoblast proliferation in the MTT assay while delaying the onset of differentiation during myogenesis. Molecular analysis confirmed that CA nanofiber with annatto extract impaired the differentiation process, indicating that annatto extract does not synergize with the cell differentiation phenotype for C2C12 cells. In broad terms, these results suggest that cellulose acetate nanofiber loaded with annatto extract have potential for applications as a scaffold in the cultivated meat industry.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES, Brazil) for financial support, and Dr. Paul Zaslansky of the Department for Operative and Preventive Dentistry at Charité–Universitätsmedizin in Berlin, Germany for use of the Phenom SEM. Thanks to the Microscopy Center at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (http://www.microscopia.ufmg.br) for providing equipment and technical support for experiments involving electron microscopy. Thanks also to the Gamma Irradiation Laboratory installed at the Nuclear Technology Development Centre (CDTN), for the sterilization of the biomaterials.
Data availability statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.