Electrospun Poly(lactic acid) and Silk Fibroin Based Nanofibrous Scaffold for Meniscus Tissue Engineering

Abstract

Biopolymer based scaffolds are commonly considered as suitable materials for medical application. Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is one of the most popular polymers that has been used as a bioscaffold, but it has poor cell adhesion and slowly degrades in an in vitro environment. In this study, silk fibroin (SF) was selected to improve cell adhesion and degradability of electrospun PLA. In order to fabricate a PLA/SF scaffold that offered both biological and mechanical properties, related parameters such as solution viscosity and SF content were studied. By varying the concentration and molecular weight of PLA, the solution viscosity significantly changed. The effect of solution viscosity on the fiber forming ability and fiber morphology was elucidated. In addition, commercial (l-lactide, d-lactide PLA) and medical grade PLA (pure PLLA) were both investigated. Mechanical properties, thermal properties, biodegradability, wettability, cell viability, and gene expression of electrospun PLA and PLA/SF based nanofibrous scaffolds were examined. The results demonstrated that medical grade PLA electrospun scaffolds offered superior mechanical property, degradability, and cellular induction for meniscus tissue regeneration. However, for commercial non-medical grade PLA used in this study, it was not recommended to be used for medical application because of its toxicity. With the addition of SF in PLA based scaffolds, the in vitro degradability and hydrophilicity were improved. PLAmed50:SF50 scaffold has the potential to be used as biomimetic meniscus scaffold for scaffold augmented suture based on mechanical properties, cell viability, gene expression, surface wettability, and in vitro degradation.

Detection of Limbal Stem Cells Adhered to Melt Electrospun Silk Fibroin and Gelatin-Modified Polylactic Acid Scaffolds

“…Instead, silk fibroin polymer spontaneously formed higher molecular complexes that localize between PLA microfibers. This has also been observed in a study [ 35 ] where directly electrospun PLA/silk fibroin nanofibrous scaffolds confirmed the intrinsic ability of silk fibroin to form complexes. In Supplemental AVI Files (Video S1a–c) , 3D fluorescent analysis of PLA scaffolds at 20× magnification, in 100 µm depth of scan, clearly shows the different densities and localization of LSCs related to PLA modifications.…”

“…Both silk fibroin and gelatin are successfully fabricated into biomedical scaffolds based on solution electrospinning. For example, silk fibroin was combined with PLA for the development of a biomimetic meniscus scaffold [ 35 ], or gelatin was blended with chitosan for the in vitro study of human dermal fibroblast cells culture for the application in skin tissue engineering [ 36 ]. Other tissue engineering applications include bone [ 37 ], nerve [ 38 ], vascular [ 39 ], and tissue repair.…”

Photothermal Sensitive 3D Printed Biodegradable Polyester Scaffolds with Polydopamine Coating for Bone Tissue Engineering

“…The adhesion and proliferation of MSCs could be enhanced on a moderately hydrophilic surface (water contact angle of 40–80°) [ 47 ]. However, PLA is a typical hydrophobic polymeric material that lacks cell recognition signals and has limited applications in biomaterials [ 48 ]. The structure of poly(dopamine) contains a large number of phenolic hydroxyl and amino functional groups, and the introduction of poly(dopamine) to PLA scaffolds can effectively improve hydrophilicity and bioactivity.…”

3D printed trabeculae conditionally reproduce the mechanical properties of the actual trabeculae - A preliminary study

“…Figure 2 (d). The printed cubes were mechanically tested as soon as possible after the printing process, since PLA is degradable in an in vitro environment, although the degradation is very slow ( Promnil et al., 2022 ). There was a one-day gap between the printing of the cubes and the beginning of the support material removal process and a half-day gap between the support material removal process and mechanical testing.…”