Abstract
The main goal of our research was to fabricate electrospun scaffolds from three different silk proteins—silk fibroin from Bombyx mori silkworm cocoons and two recombinant spidroins, rS2/12 and rS2/12-RGDS—and to perform a comparative analysis of the structure, biological properties, and regenerative potential of the scaffolds in a full-thickness rat skin wound model. The surface and internal structures were investigated using scanning electron microscopy and scanning probe nanotomography. The structures of the scaffolds were similar. The average fiber diameter of the scaffolds was 315 ± 26 nm, the volume porosity was 94.5 ± 1.4%, the surface-to-volume ratio of the scaffolds was 25.4 ± 4.2 μm−1 and the fiber surface roughness was 3.8 ± 0.6 nm. The scaffolds were characterized by a non-cytotoxicity effect and a high level of cytocompatibility with cells. The scaffolds also had high regenerative potential—the healing of the skin wound was accelerated by 19 days compared with the control. A histological analysis did not reveal any fragments of the experimental constructions or areas of inflammation. Thus, novel data on the structure and biological properties of the silk fibroin/spidroin electrospun scaffolds were obtained.
Highlights
Accepted: 12 October 2021One of the main objectives in tissue engineering is the fabrication of cytocompatible constructions and the selection of materials that can perform cell interactions to ensure the physiological activity of the construction
This research investigated constructions that were fabricated from three different silk proteins: silk fibroin from cocoons of the Bombyx mori silkworm, and two recombinant spidroins rS2/12 and rS2/12-RGDS
Silk fibroin was obtained from B. mori silkworm cocoons [22], which were provided by the head of the State Scientific Institution of the Republican Scientific Research Station of Sericulture of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Summary
One of the main objectives in tissue engineering is the fabrication of cytocompatible constructions and the selection of materials that can perform cell interactions to ensure the physiological activity of the construction. Silk fibroin is characterized by a unique combination of physico-chemical and biological properties, and can be used in different fields of tissue engineering, both in a solo state and in composites. The main advantage of silk when compared with other cytocompatible materials is its mechanical properties [1], which ensure the fibroin application as a frame-reinforcing component in various constructions [2,3] and as a composite additive to polymers with insufficient mechanical strength [4,5,6]
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