Simultaneous Electrospun-Electrosprayed Biocomposite Nanostructured Substrates For Bone Tissue Engineering

The objective of this study is to fabricate PLACL, silk fibroin (SF) and hydroxyapatite (HA) biocomposite nanofibrous scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. The fabricated nanofibrous scaffolds have been characterized by SEM, contact angle, functional groups analysis, porosity, mechanical properties and TEM. Hydroxyapatite nanoparticles were electrosprayed on the surface of electrospun nanofibers to achieve rough surface morphology of biocomposite scaffolds for the growth and differentiation of MSCs into osteogenesis. The fabricated scaffolds showed better pore size (1.5-7.8 µm), highly porous (68-93%) with fiber diameterobtained around 213±78 to 340 ± 52 nm and FT-IR analysis observed amide groups, carbonate and phosphate groups in the biocomposite nanofibrous scaffolds. The obtained PLACL/SF/HA (blend) and (spray) scaffolds were hydrophilic having a water contact angle of 35.90±3.42° and 24.57±2.45° compared to PLACL (127.70±3.67°) scaffolds. MSCs cultured on these scaffolds underwent osteogenic differentiation in the presence of SF/HA for mineralization in bone tissue regeneration. Osteogenic differentiation of MSCs was confirmed by alkaline phosphatase activity, mineralization and osteocalcin expression. The observed results proved that the SF/HA loaded biocomposite nanofibrous scaffolds improved the biological functions for the proliferation of cells, ALP activity, differentiation of MSCs into osteogenesis and mineralization for bone tissue engineering.