Mimicking nanofibrous hybrid substitute for bone tissue engineering

Abstract

Bone grafts are increasingly used for correcting bone fractures defects. Massive implants usually result in slow healing. The aim of this study is to fabricate nanofibrous scaffolds using Polycaprolactone/silk fibroin/Zinc coated silver nanoparticles (PCL/SF/Ag(Zn)) for bone tissue engineering. Human Mesenchymal Stem cells (hMSCs) were seeded onto the composite scaffolds and allowed to grow for 5, 10 and 15 days. They were then tested for cell proliferation via MTS assay, mineralization qualitatively via Alizarin red-S dye and live cell morphology via CMFDA dye exclusion methods. The results were that we found cell proliferation increased with addition of Silk fibroin and even more with addition of Zinc coated silver nanoparticles. Cell morphology was normal and hence suitable with PCL, but morphology was more of a more differentiated form with zinc coated silver nanoparticles and silk fibroin samples. Also, Mineralization was seen to be increased in the samples with silk fibroin, zinc coated silver nanoparticles. Hence, this suggested that fabricated PCL/SF/Ag (Zn) nanofibrous scaffolds have potential for use in bone tissue engineering for differentiation of MSCs.