A rapid freezing/lyophilizing/reinforcing process is suggested to fabricate reinforced keratin/hydroxyapatite (HA) scaffold with improved mechanical property and biocompatibility for tissue engineering. The keratin, extracted from human hair, and HA mixture were rapidly frozen with liquid nitrogen and then lyophilized to prepare keratin/HA laminar scaffold. The scaffold was then immersed in PBS for reinforcement treatment, and followed by a second lyophilization to prepare the reinforced keratin/HA scaffold. The morphology, mechanical, chemical, crystal and thermal property of the keratin/HA scaffold were investigated by SEM, FTIR, XRD, DSC, respectively. The results showed that the keratin/HA scaffold had a high porosity of 76.17 ± 3%. The maximum compressive strength and compressive modulus of the reinforced scaffold is 0.778 and 3.3 MPa respectively. Subcutaneous implantation studies in mice showed that in vivo the scaffold was biocompatible since the foreign body reaction seen around the implanted scaffold samples was moderate and became minimal upon increasing implantation time. These results demonstrate that the keratin/HA reinforced scaffold prepared here is promising for biomedical utilization.
High-content keratin/poly (ethylene oxide) (PEO) (90/10) blend nanofibers were prepared by electrospinning combined with a two-step cross-linking process. The keratin/PEO aqueous solution was firstly mixed with ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether (EGDE) as cross-linker and then electrospun into nanofibers. The resulting nanofibrous mats were cross-linked with EGDE vapor to decrease the solubility of nanofibers in water. The morphologies and properties of electrospun fibers were investigated by SEM, FTIR, TG, XRD, and contact angle testing, respectively. The results showed that the morphologies of nanofibers were uniform at the fiber average diameter of 300 nm with negligible bead defects by adding EGDE to keratin/PEO solutions. The cross-linking results showed that EGDE vapor could improve the hydrophobic property of blended nanofibers. The crystallinity of the keratin/PEO blend nanofiber mat increased from 13.14% for the uncross-linked sample to 21.54% and 35.15% for the first cross-linked and second cross-linked samples, respectively. Free defect nanofiber mats with high keratin content producing from this two-step cross-linking process are particularly promising for tissue engineering and cell-seeded scaffold.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.