National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk & Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, People's Republic of China.
Department of Orthopedics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361000, People's Republic of China.
Biomacromolecules. 2022 May 9;23(5):2160-2169. doi: 10.1021/acs.biomac.2c00222. Epub 2022 Apr 20.
Cryogels are widely used in tissue regeneration due to their porous structures and friendly hydrogel performance. Silk-based cryogels were developed but failed to exhibit desirable tunable properties to adapt various biomedical applications. Here, amorphous short silk nanofibers (SSFs) were introduced to fabricate silk cryogels with versatile cues. Compared to previous silk cryogels, the SSF cryogels prepared under same conditions showed significantly enhanced mechanical properties. The microporous cryogels were achieved under lower silk concentrations, confirming better tunability. Versatile cryogels with the modulus in the range of 0.5-283.7 kPa were developed through adjusting silk concentration and crosslinking conditions, superior to previous silk cryogel systems. Besides better cytocompatibility, the SSF cryogels were endowed with effective mechanical cues to control osteogenetic differentiation behaviors of BMSCs. The mechanical properties could be further regulated finely through the introduction of β-sheet-rich silk nanofibers (SNFs), which suggested possible optimization of mechanical niches. Bioactive cargo-laden SNFs were introduced to the SSF cryogel systems, bringing biochemical signals without the compromise of mechanical properties. Versatile SNF-based cryogels with different physical and biological cues were developed here to facilitate the applications in various tissue engineering.
由于其多孔结构和良好的水凝胶性能，冷冻凝胶在组织再生中得到了广泛的应用。基于丝素的冷冻凝胶已经被开发出来，但它们未能表现出理想的可调特性，以适应各种生物医学应用。在这里，引入无定形短丝纳米纤维（SSFs）来制备具有多种线索的丝素冷冻凝胶。与以前的丝素冷冻凝胶相比，在相同条件下制备的 SSF 冷冻凝胶表现出显著增强的机械性能。在较低的丝浓度下可以获得微孔冷冻凝胶，证实了更好的可调性。通过调节丝浓度和交联条件，可以开发出模量在 0.5-283.7 kPa 范围内的多功能冷冻凝胶，优于以前的丝冷冻凝胶体系。除了更好的细胞相容性外，SSF 冷冻凝胶还具有有效的机械线索，以控制 BMSCs 的成骨分化行为。通过引入富含β-折叠的丝纳米纤维（SNFs）可以进一步精细调节机械性能，这表明可能对机械生态位进行了优化。载有生物活性货物的 SNF 被引入 SSF 冷冻凝胶系统，在不影响机械性能的情况下带来生化信号。这里开发了具有不同物理和生物学线索的多功能 SNF 基冷冻凝胶，以促进在各种组织工程中的应用。
