Investigation of microalgae growth on electrospun nanofiber mats

• Main Authors: Christina Großerhode, Daria Wehlage, Timo Grothe, Nils Grimmelsmann, Sandra Fuchs, Jessica Hartmann, Patrycja Mazur, Vanessa Reschke, Helena Siemens, Anke Rattenholl, Sarah Vanessa Homburg, Andrea Ehrmann
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: AIMS Press 2017-08-01
• Series: AIMS Bioengineering
• Subjects: electrospinning; nanofiber mat; green algae
• Online Access: http://www.aimspress.com/Bioengineering/article/1552/fulltext.html

Due to their large inner surface, nanofiber mats are often used in tissue engineering and examined with respect to cell adhesion, e.g., for cultivation of fibroblasts. The combination of different polymers with a large contact area, however, could also be used for growth of different plants including green microalgae. Here, the cultivation of the microalga <em>Chlamydomonas reinhardtii</em> on different polymer substrates was examined. We investigated growth on two nanofiber mats consisting of polyamide (PA6) and polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and a polypropylene (PP) microfiber mat as substrates, compared with a pure multi-well plate. It was found that the algae were able to grow on all textile mats without change in morphology, indicating that all polymers were non-toxic to the cells. Thus, these nonwovens might be suitable filters for the separation of microalgae in biotechnological processes.