polymers Article Electrospun Scaffolds in Periodontal Wound Healing Mária Budai-Sz ˝ ucs 1 , Marco Ruggeri 2 , Angela Faccendini 2 , Attila Léber 1 , Silvia Rossi 2 ,Gábor Varga 3 , Maria Cristina Bonferoni 2 ,Péter Vályi 4 , Katalin Burián 5 , Erzsébet Csányi 1 , Giuseppina Sandri 2, * and Franca Ferrari 2   Citation: Budai-Sz ˝ ucs, M.; Ruggeri, M.; Faccendini, A.; Léber, A.; Rossi, S.; Varga, G.; Bonferoni, M.C.; Vályi, P.; Burián, K.; Csányi, E.; et al. Electrospun Scaffolds in Periodontal Wound Healing. Polymers 2021, 13, 307. https://doi.org/10.3390/ polym13020307 Academic Editor: Carlos A. García-González Received: 10 December 2020 Accepted: 14 January 2021 Published: 19 January 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Institute of Pharmaceutical Technology and Regulatory Affairs, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Szeged, Eötvös u. 6, H-6720 Szeged, Hungary; budai-szucs.maria@szte.hu (M.B.-S.); leber.attila@gmail.com (A.L.); soosne.csanyi.erzsebet@szte.hu (E.C.) 2 Department of Drug Sciences, University of Pavia, Viale Taramelli 12, 27100 Pavia, Italy; marco.ruggeri02@universitadipavia.it (M.R.); angela.faccendini@gmail.com (A.F.); silvia.rossi@unipv.it (S.R.); cbonferoni@unipv.it (M.C.B.); franca.ferrari@unipv.it (F.F.) 3 Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Szeged, Dómtér 8, H-6720 Szeged, Hungary; gabor.varga5@chem.u-szeged.hu 4 Department of Periodontology, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Szeged, H-6720 Szeged, Hungary; valyi.peter@stoma.u-szeged.hu 5 Institute of Clinical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Szeged, H-6720 Szeged, Hungary; burian.katalin@med.u-szeged.hu * Correspondence: g.sandri@unipv.it; Tel.: +39-03-8298-7728 Abstract: Periodontitis is a set of inflammatory conditions affecting the tissues surrounding the teeth predominantly sustained by bacterial infections. The aim of the work was the design and the development of scaffolds based on biopolymers to be inserted in the periodontal pocket to restore tissue integrity and to treat bacterial infections. Nanofibrous scaffolds were prepared by means of electrospinning. Gelatin was considered as base component and was associated to low and high molecular weight chitosans and alginate. The scaffolds were characterized by chemico– physical properties (morphology, solid state-FTIR and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)-surface zeta potential and contact angle), and mechanical properties. Moreover, preclinical properties (cytocompatibility, fibroblast and osteoblast adhesion and proliferation and antimicrobial properties) were assessed. All the scaffolds were based on cylindrical and smooth nanofibers and preserved their nanofibrous structure upon hydration independently of their composition. They possessed a high degree of hydrophilicity and negative zeta potentials in a physiological environment, suitable surface properties to enhance cell adhesion and proliferation and to inhibit bacteria attachment. The scaffold based on gelatin and low molecular weight chitosan proved to be effective in vitro to support both fibroblasts and osteoblasts adhesion and proliferation and to impair the proliferation of Streptococcus mutans and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, both pathogens involved in periodontitis. Keywords: periodontitis; gelatin; chitosan; alginate; nanofibrous scaffold; wound healing; antibacte- rial properties 1. Introduction Periodontitis is a set of inflammatory conditions affecting the tissues surrounding the teeth and is predominantly a bacterial infection that affects the protective and supportive tissues of the tooth. This is a great health problem and nearly half of the adult population are affected. Periodontitis can reduce patients’ quality of life and cause tooth loss, disability, masticatory dysfunction as well. It can be also associated with systemic chronic inflam- matory diseases, such as atherogenic cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic kidney disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. As a complex disease, its onset depends on etiological and modifiable risk factors e.g., smoking, poor oral hygiene, poorly controlled diabetes mellitus, obesity, and stress [1–3]. Polymers 2021, 13, 307. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13020307 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/polymers