fabrication and characterization of regenerated silk/bioglass composites for bone tissue engineering

objective: one of the major issues in bone tissue engineering is the design and fabrication of bioactive, bioresorbable porous 3d scaffolds capable of maintaining their structure and integrity over a predictable period of time. one such approach is the fabrication of composite scaffolds. methods: in this study we present fabrication and characterization of novel silk/bioglass-composite scaffolds. regenerated fibroin was constructed from mulberry silk cocoons and calcium silicophosphate bioactive glass was made by sol-gel processing. for fabrication of a homogenous composite, grained bioglass particles were modified with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane coating. fibroin/bioglass composite scaffolds were fabricated by the freeze-dry technique at different concentrations. results: silk protein extract was evaluated by ftir and xrd methods. ftir spectrum showed sharp amide peaks at 1655 cm-1 and 1530 cm-1 wave lengths, which confirmed the existence of fibroin. xps analysis demonstrated that the amino groups were established on the surface of the glass powder. the fabricated 3d scaffolds were morphologically analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, which showed uniformly dispersed bioglass particles in all structures. scaffolds were seeded with human mesenchymal stem cells for 21 days. conclusion: considering the cytocompatibility of the scaffolds and osteogenic differentiation during three weeks, it could be concluded that the appropriate combination of structural and biological properties make the silk/bioglass composite scaffold a probable choice for potential use in bone tissue engineering.