Nanofibers Preparation by Free-Liquid Surface Electrospinning for Cartilage Tissue Engineering

Cartilage degeneration due to aging like osteoarthritis, or developmental abnormalities and trauma causes severe damage to cartilage tissue. Adult cartilage tissue has limited self-repair capacity thus the deformity is... [ view full abstract ]

Cartilage degeneration due to aging like osteoarthritis, or developmental abnormalities and trauma causes severe damage to cartilage tissue. Adult cartilage tissue has limited self-repair capacity thus the deformity is generally not self-cured. Tissue engineering can provide cure to this problem by designing scaffold of appropriate composition to mimic the extra cellular matrix of the damaged tissue on which the stem cells could grow to form functional cartilage tissue. Electrospinning is the method for formation of nanoscale diameter fibrous matrix, which provides high surface area, beneficial for cell adhesion. Free-liquid surface electrospinning is an advanced method that provides higher productivity. In the present study, we explore electrospinning for fabricating scaffolds from chitosan (CS) blended with regenerated silk fibroin (SF). To improve the processing ability of the blend solution, poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) was added to the blend which was then successfully electrospun. SF is a naturally occurring biodegradable fibrous protein having good mechanical properties and biocompatibility. CS has intrinsic antibacterial activity and biocompatibility that makes it suitable for the tissue engineering applications.
The morphology of nanofibrous matrix was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Crystalline nature and hydrophilicity of the nanofibrous matrix was confirmed by X-ray diffractometry and contact angle analysis, respectively. The matrix was found to possess biodegradation rate and tensile strength adequate for cartilage tissue replacement. The electrospun nanofibers also supported growth and proliferation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) as observed by field emission SEM and MTT studies. Histological and fluorescence microscopic analysis confirmed the differentiation of MSCs to chondrocytes, on the nanofibrous matrix. The confirmatory study by quantitative-PCR validated the potential of the prepared nanofibrous matrix for cartilage tissue engineering applications.
Keywords: Nanofiber, electrospinning, tissue engineering, chitosan, silk fibroin, poly(ethylene oxide)