As an aim toward developing biologically mimetic and functional nanofiber-based tissue engineering scaffolds, we demonstrated the encapsulation of a model protein, fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated bovine serum albumin (fitcBSA), along with a water-soluble polymer, poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), within the biodegradable poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) nanofibers using a coaxial electrospinning technique. By variation of the inner flow rates from 0.2 to 0.6 mL/h with a constant outer flow rate of 1.8 mL/h, fitcBSA loadings of 0.85-2.17 mg/g of nanofibrous membranes were prepared. Variation of flow rates also resulted in increases of fiber sizes from ca. 270 nm to 380 nm. The encapsulation of fitcBSA/PEG within PCL was subsequently characterized by laser confocal scanning microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. In vitro release studies were conducted to evaluate sustained release potential of the core-sheath-structured composite nanofiber PCL-r-fitcBSA/PEG. As a negative control, composite nanofiber PCL/fitcBSA/PEG blend was prepared from a normal electrospinning method. It was found that core-sheath nanofibers PCL-r-fitcBSA/PEG pronouncedly alleviated the initial burst release for higher protein loading and gave better sustainability compared to that of PCL/fitcBSA/PEG nanofibers. The present study would provide a basis for further design and optimization of processing conditions to control the nanostructure of core-sheath composite nanofibers and ultimately achieve desired release kinetics of bioactive proteins (e.g., growth factors) for practical tissue engineering applications.

Immiscible biopolymers of gelatin (Gt) and polycaprolactone (PCL) were first electrospun into a biomimicking composite fibre of Gt/PCL. Based on a phase separation study of the electrospun fibres, a leaching method was employed to generate 3D porous nanofibres by selectively removing the water soluble component of gelatin in a 37 °C aqueous solution of phosphate buffered saline. It was found that leaching treatment gave rise to a unique nanotopography containing grooves, ridges and elliptical pores on the surface as well as inside of the resultant individual nanofibres. Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) area measurement indicated that the formed 3D porous fibres also brought in a pronounced increase of the surface area of fibres. The BET surface area of the porous fibres was observed to be about 2.4 times that of the precursor fibres, up to 15.84 m2 g−1 at its relatively large size of 800 nm diameter. The 3D porous fibres herein prepared could have considerable value for uses in developing highly integrated cell–scaffold tissue complexes and other industrial applications.

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