Preparation and Characterization of Silk Fibroin/Hydroxyapatite Bilayer Scaffolds

Abstract

When the articular cartilage defect accompanies with the subchondral bone defect, using bilayer scaffolds which can integrate with surrounding host cartilage and bone tissue respectively as the tissue engineering scaffolds will be conducive to the repair of tissue defects. This paper reports a new method for preparing bilayer scaffolds. Firstly, hydroxyapatite (HA)/silk fibroin(SF) composite porous materials which have high porosity were prepared by a isostatic compaction molding method, then it was fully immersed in silk fibroin solution, and finally SF/HA bilayer scaffolds were obtained by freeze-drying. The structure of the bilayer scaffolds were investigated through scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy, electron excitation spectroscopy and electron microprobe. The results indicated that the upper layer of SF/HA bilayer scaffolds is porous SF component, the under layer is the porous HA/SF composite component and the interface of the two layer is closely connected. Furthermore, mesenchymal stem cells from mouse bone marrow were seeded into the bilayer scaffolds and the results showed that the cells had a well adhesion and growth after culturing for 3 days.