Electrospun Polyhydroxybutyrate/Poly(ε-caprolactone)/Sol–Gel-Derived Silica Hybrid Scaffolds with Drug Releasing Function for Bone Tissue Engineering Applications

Abstract

Electrospun hybrid scaffolds are an effective platform to deliver drugs site specifically for the prevention and treatment of diseases in addition to promote tissue regeneration because of the flexibility to load drugs therein. In the present study, electrospun hybrid scaffolds containing antibiotics were developed to support cellular activities and eliminate potential postoperative inflammation and infection. As a model drug, levofloxacin (LFX) was successfully incorporated into pure polyhydroxybutyrate/poly(ε-caprolactone) (PHB/PCL) scaffolds and PHB/PCL/sol–gel-derived silica (SGS) scaffolds. The influence of LFX on the morphology, mechanical performance, chemical structure, drug release profile, and antibacterial effect of the scaffolds was thoroughly and comparatively investigated. MG-63 osteoblast-like cell cultivation on both scaffolds certified that LFX inclusion did not impair the biocompatibility. In addition to the favorable cellular proliferation and differentiation, scaffolds containing both LFX and SGS displayed highly increased mineralization content. Therefore, the present multifunctional hybrid scaffolds are promising in tissue engineering applications.

Fabrication of open‐porous PCL/PLA tissue engineering scaffolds and the relationship of foaming process, morphology, and mechanical behavior

“…optimize the processing parameters to obtain a scaffold with excellent properties as mentioned above. 4 There are many methods to fabricate tissue engineering scaffolds, such as thermal-induced phase separation, 5 freeze drying, porogen leaching, 6 electrospinning, 7 flow-induced disperse, 8 thermal decompositions, 9 and ultrasound. 10 These methods may also offer excellent control over scaffold geometry, pore characteristics, and internal channel architecture.…”

Polymer Fiber Scaffolds for Bone and Cartilage Tissue Engineering

“…Electrophoretically mixed scaffolds containing antibiotics have been developed to support cell activity and eliminate postoperative inflammation. Ding et al used levofloxacin (LFX) as a model drug and successfully combined it with pure PHB/PCL and PHB/PCL/sol–gel derived silica (SGS) scaffolds, as shown in Figure A . LFX exerted activity against a variety of clinical pathogens, including both gram‐negative bacteria and gram‐positive bacteria .…”

“…Preparation of PHB/PCL fibers and cell culture results . A) Schematic illustration of preparation procedures of P100L5 (route 1) and P100S20L5 (route 2) electrospun fibermats.…”

“…B) Confocal images of MG‐63 cells that cultivated on scaffolds of a,d) PHB/PCL, b,e) P100L5, c,f) P100S20L5 for 3 and 7 days (same scale bar for all the images). Reproduced with permission . Copyright 2018, American Chemical Society.…”

Recent Progress in Polyhydroxyalkanoates‐Based Copolymers for Biomedical Applications

“…It is often utilized for a biodegradable polymer plasticizer as a result of its linear structure. It has been found that due to the presence of the segment PCL, the fracture growth rate, ductility, and mechanical processability of the composite can be significantly improved, and overall strengthening and toughening can be achieved . Sun's team found that the new PHB‐based polyurethane polymer with PCL segment has better physicochemical properties, and the new polymer has better flexibility, lower crystallinity, and deformation recovery than PHB .…”