Key Laboratory of Eco-Textiles, Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China; State Key Lab for Modification of Chemical Fibers & Polymer Materials, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China; Engineering Research Center of Technical Textiles, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University, No. 2999 North Renmin Road, Songjiang, Shanghai 201620, China.
State Key Lab for Modification of Chemical Fibers & Polymer Materials, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China.
Colloids Surf B Biointerfaces. 2020 Dec;196:111361. doi: 10.1016/j.colsurfb.2020.111361. Epub 2020 Sep 21.
Silk fibroin (SF) has made major contribution to the development of a rich variety of tissue-engineered scaffolds, mainly owing to its low cost, good biocompatibility, and proper biodegradability. However, scaffold of pure SF shows poor performance in terms of the mechanical strength, especially when they are constructed to a three-dimensional (3D), porous structure for bulk tissue regeneration. Herein, we report the fabrication of a typical class of 3D porous sponges made of SF, which are mechanically reinforced by integrating with a silk nonwoven fabric. It was found that the silk fibers in the fabric were closely bonded with SF inside the matrix sponge post freeze-drying, which significantly increased the compressive and tensile stress relative to the case of pure SF sponge. We then took fibroblasts (L929) as a model cell to investigate the 3D cell growth inside the scaffold. The cell viability, proliferation, and infiltration were noticeably improved when the silk nonwoven fabric was integrated into the SF sponge. Taken together, this class of mechanical-reinforced, 3D composite scaffolds hold great potential in the regeneration of bulk tissues and related applications.
丝素蛋白 (SF) 在各种组织工程支架的发展中做出了重大贡献，主要归因于其低成本、良好的生物相容性和适当的可生物降解性。然而，纯 SF 支架在机械强度方面表现不佳，特别是当它们被构建为用于大块组织再生的三维 (3D) 多孔结构时。在此，我们报告了由 SF 制成的典型 3D 多孔海绵的制造，该海绵通过与丝无纺织物集成来增强机械强度。结果发现，在冷冻干燥后，织物中的丝纤维与基质海绵中的 SF 紧密结合，这显著提高了相对于纯 SF 海绵的压缩和拉伸应力。然后，我们以成纤维细胞 (L929) 作为模型细胞来研究支架内的 3D 细胞生长。当将丝无纺织物集成到 SF 海绵中时，细胞活力、增殖和渗透明显得到改善。总之，这种机械增强的 3D 复合支架在大块组织的再生和相关应用中具有巨大的潜力。
