Smart materials like piezoelectric polymers represent a new class of promising scaffold in neural tissue engineering. In the current study, the fabrication processing parameters of polyvinylidine fluoride (PVDF) nanofibrous scaffold are found as a potential scaffold with nanoscale morphology and microscale alignment. Electrospinning technique with the ability to mimic the structure and function of an extracellular matrix is a preferable method to customize the scaffold features. PVDF nanofibrous scaffolds were successfully fabricated by the electrospinning technique. The influence of PVDF solution concentration and other processing parameters like applied voltage, tip-to-collector distance, feeding rate, collector speed and the solvent were studied. The optimal parameters were 30 w/v% PVDF concentration, 15 kV applied voltage, 18 cm tip-to-collector distance, 0.5 ml/h feeding rate, 2500 rpm collector speed and N,N′-dimethylacetamide/acetone as a solvent. The mean fiber diameter of the obtained scaffold was 352.9 ± 24 nm with uniform and aligned morphology. Finally, the cell viability and morphology of PC-12 cells on the optimum scaffold indicated the potential of PVDF nanofibrous scaffold for neural tissue engineering.

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The aim of this study was to mimic the specific structure of bone and fabricate a biomimetic nano-hydroxyapatite (HA)/chitosan (Cs)/gelatin scaffolds using combination of particle leaching and freeze drying methods eliminating mold effects. To achieve an optimum structure, scaffolds with different gelatin/Cs weight ratio were fabricated. Morphological characterization of scaffolds by scanning electron microscopy method showed highly interconnected porous structures similar to cancellous bone with mean pore size ranging from 140 to 190 μm. Nano-HA crystals were dispersed homogeneously in the polymer matrix according to the energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy images. Fourier transform infrared and X-ray diffraction results disclosed that chemical interactions were formed between nano-HA, Cs, gelatin and crystallinity of each material decreased with blending. It was found that increasing the gelatin content significantly improved water uptake, degradation rate as well as attachment, infiltration and proliferation of Saos2 cells to the scaffolds. The presented results confirm that the designed biomimetic nano-HA /Cs/gelatin scaffolds can be used as promising substitutes for bone tissue engineering.