Extracted Silk Fibroin‐Cellulose Acetate Nanofibrous Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering Applications

Abstract

AbstractThe extracellular matrix of cells consists of polysaccharides and proteins which provide support for cell attachment, movement, and proliferation thus regulating cellular activities. After a wound, cells require similar support to rebuild tissues with original characteristics. Silk fibroin and cellulose have thus been used to engineer nanofibrous mats through electrospinning process for tissue engineering applications. Silk fibroin (SF) is extracted from B. mori cocoons and cellulose acetate (CA) is obtained from textile‐based yarn. The resulting SF:CA nanofibrous mats have fiber diameters in the range of 0.26 µm (SF:CA 40:60) to 0.81 µm (SF:CA 10:90), tensile modulus in the range of 74.5 MPa (100% CA) to 458 MPa (SF:CA 80:20) and showed good material miscibility as evidenced through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis. In vitro, nanofibrous mats with high silk fibroin content maintained murine macrophages in the non‐inflammatory stage and encouraged the movement of fibroblasts cells.