Preparation and Characteration of Electrospun Collagen/Silk Fibroin Complex Microfibers

Abstract

The electrospun collagen (COL)/silk fibroin (SF) complex scaffold was investigated for the fabrication of a biocompatible and biomimetic scaffold for tissue engineering. The COL/SF complex microfibers were prepared via electrospinning COL/SF blend solutions in 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoroiso propanol (HFIP), and then crosslinked by glutaraldehyde (GTA) vapor. The fiber morphology was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the structural changes of fibers after crosslinked were analysised by Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR). The mechanical property of the scaffolds was examined by tensile testing. To assay the biocompatibility of the matrics, the proliferation of fibroblasts (L929) on the microfibrous scaffolds was investigated by methylthiazol tetrazolium testing (MTT). The results showed that the average diameters of complex fibers ranged from 550 to 1100 nm, increasing with the increase of SF content. The GTA vapor stabilized the microfibers especially the COL component via crosslinking and stabilized the SF component via changing the SF component to β-sheet structure. The mechanical property of the crosslinked fibers was better than that of the uncrosslinked ones, and the highest average ultimate tensile strength 8.7 MPa appeared when SF content was 70%. L929 cells grew and proliferated well on the microfibers, especially on the fibers with SF content of 70%. These results strongly support that the COL/SF microfibrous scaffolds, could be a potential candidate for biomedical applications such as wound dressing and scaffolds for skin tissue engineering.