Silk fibroin incorporated electrospun aliphatic polyester nanofiber scaffolds with excellent dimensional stability and cytocompatibility

Abstract

Poly (lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) has been extensively utilized to fabricate electrospun fibers for tissue engineering scaffolds due to its good biocompatibility and biodegradability. However, such scaffolds in biological media shrink and distort severely, which is undesired for practical application. In this study, a silk fibroin incorporated electrospun aliphatic polyester nanofiber scaffold (PLGA/PCL/SF) was developed via facile one-step electrospinning, with PLGA as the substrate and incorporating polycaprolactone (PCL) and silk fibroin (SF). The resulting scaffold exhibited fine fibers and water absorbency. Particularly, the addition of SF into scaffolds improved the water adsorption ability, and that of PCL effectively prevented scaffold shrinkage behaviors. In vitro degradation analyses showed that it was accelerating for the obtained scaffolds with SF added, without any undesirable acidic environment induced. Additionally, the PLGA/PCL/SF scaffold exhibited the most promising result in cell proliferation, presenting a valuable insight into the design of tissue engineering scaffolds.