engleski

Study on the properties of electrospun polycaprolactone /silk fibroin scaffolds

For centuries silk fibroin has been used as a textile fiber. Beyond textiles, silk fibroin has also been used in biomedical applications as a surgical material for decades. Because of his good mechanical properties, biocompatibility and biodegradability silk fibroin is being further developed for various emerging applications. In this work, tissue engineering scaffolds composed of polycaprolactone (PCL) and silk fibroin (SF) were prepared by electrospinning technique. Morphology, chemical composition, thermal properties, thermal stability and hydrophobicity of the PCL/SF scaffolds were characterized to evaluate the effect of SF by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and water contact angle analysis. Electrospinning resulted in uniform fibers morphology, with thinner fibers in case of the PCL/SF scaffolds and a homogeneous SF distribution throughout the fibers. The FTIR results showed that the silk fibroin was successfully introduced to the PCL scaffolds. The hydrophilicity of the PCL modified scaffolds was enhanced. Results obtained with DSC analysis showed that with addition of the silk fibroin, glass transition temperature of the PCL increases, while the melting temperature and degree of crystallinity decreases, because of the less organized crystal structure with addition of silk fibroin. The thermal stability of the PCL/SF scaffolds also decreased with the addition of the SF.

Electrospinning, Poly(ε-caprolactone), Silk Fibroin, Scaffold, Tissue engineering

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