Abstract
Development and characterization of porous scaffolds for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine is of great importance. In recent times, silk scaffolds were developed and successfully tested in tissue engineering and drug release applications. We developed a novel composite scaffold by mechanical infusion of silk hydrogel matrix into a highly porous network silk scaffold. The mechanical behaviour of these scaffolds was thoroughly examined for their possible use in load bearing applications. Firstly, unconfined compression experiments show that the denser composite scaffolds displayed significant enhancement in the elastic modulus as compared to either of the components. This effect was examined and further explained with the help of foam mechanics principles. Secondly, results from confined compression experiments that resemble loading of cartilage in confinement, showed nonlinear material responses for all scaffolds. Finally, the confined creep experiments were performed to calculate the hydraulic permeability of the scaffolds using soil mechanics principles. Our results show that composite scaffolds with some modifications can be a potential candidate for use of cartilage like applications. We hope such approaches help in developing novel scaffolds for tissue engineering by providing an understanding of the mechanics and can further be used to develop graded scaffolds by targeted infusion in specific regions.
Highlights
Fibrous elastic proteins, like silk, have low density and combine the ability to undergo large deformation with high resilience which makes it an extremely attractive structural biomaterial for applications that combine high specific strength and toughness [1]
The stress-strain responses of porous network scaffolds were delineated into three regions: first, an initial linear elastic region characterized by elastic modulus
We examined the applicability of foam mechanics to understand the deformation mechanism of these scaffolds
Summary
Like silk, have low density and combine the ability to undergo large deformation with high resilience which makes it an extremely attractive structural biomaterial for applications that combine high specific strength and toughness [1]. Characterising the mechanical behaviour of such porous scaffold materials is crucial for their use in musculoskeletal applications that depend crucially on the strength, toughness, ability to undergo large deformations, and support tissue growth [7]. In addition to these properties, scaffold porosity greatly influences interstitial liquid transport which is essential in sustaining cells within the tissue engineered constructs. It is important to obtain optimum scaffold porosity, strength in combination permeability, by altering the concentration, density of cross-linking, and processing technique [17]
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