Abstract
Electrospun scaffolds exhibiting high physical performances with the ability to support cell attachment and proliferation are attracting more and more scientific interest for tissue engineering applications. The inclusion of inorganic nanoparticles such as nanosilica and nanoclay into electrospun biopolymeric matrices can meet these challenging requirements. The silica and clay incorporation into polymeric nanofibers has been reported to enhance and improve the mechanical properties as well as the osteogenic properties of the scaffolds. In this work, for the first time, the physical and biological properties of polylactic acid (PLA) electrospun mats filled with different concentrations of nanosilica and nanoclay were evaluated and compared. The inclusion of the particles was evaluated through morphological investigations and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The morphology of nanofibers was differently affected by the amount and kind of fillers and it was correlated to the viscosity of the polymeric suspensions. The wettability of the scaffolds, evaluated through wet contact angle measurements, slightly increased for both the nanocomposites. The crystallinity of the systems was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry highlighting the nucleating action of both nanosilica and nanoclay on PLA. Scaffolds were mechanically characterized with tensile tests to evaluate the reinforcing action of the fillers. Finally, cell culture assays with pre‐osteoblastic cells were conducted on a selected composite scaffold in order to compare the cell proliferation and morphology with that of neat PLA scaffolds. Based on the results, we can convince that nanosilica and nanoclay can be both considered great potential fillers for electrospun systems engineered for bone tissue regeneration.
Highlights
Over the recent years, biopolymers find a wide range of advanced applications that include biodegradable food packaging,[1,2] bioremediation,[3] biosensing,[4] controlled drug release,[5] and tissue engineering.[6]
Electrospun membranes are often engineered to be involved in advanced applications including catalysis,[15,16] controlled drug release,[17,18] bioprocess intensification,[12,19] biosensing,[20] food packaging,[21] but a still-open challenge is the preparation of mats with adequate properties for tissue engineering purposes.[22]
In polylactic acid (PLA)/CLO mats, PLA crystallinity slightly increased for PLA/CLO 1 and 3% while a strong χ increase was observed for the composites containing the highest amount of the CLO
Summary
Biopolymers find a wide range of advanced applications that include biodegradable food packaging,[1,2] bioremediation,[3] biosensing,[4] controlled drug release,[5] and tissue engineering.[6] In this context, there is a growing interest in functional biopolymeric porous scaffolds exhibiting high mechanical properties with the ability to support cell attachment and proliferation.[7,8,9] Electrospinning is becoming more and more attractive for its simplicity and flexibility if compared with the other scaffold fabrication techniques.[10,11] the electrospinning technique permits easy control of the fiber diameter, porosity, and mechanical properties of the final scaffolds by changing the processing parameters and the materials used.[12,13,14] Electrospun membranes are often engineered to be involved in advanced applications including catalysis,[15,16] controlled drug release,[17,18] bioprocess intensification,[12,19] biosensing,[20] food packaging,[21] but a still-open challenge is the preparation of mats with adequate properties for tissue engineering purposes.[22] Beyond its versatility in material selection, which can include both natural and synthetic polymer, electrospinning provides the possibility to include nanoparticles into the polymeric fibers.[23] By considering the unique properties related to nanometric size and high specific surface, the incorporation of functional nanoparticles into an electrospun polymer matrix can provide substantial properties enhancements, even at low nanoparticles content.[24,25]
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