Silk Fibroin-Based Scaffolds, Hydrogels and Calcium-Phosphate Filled Materials Aimed for Regenerative Medicine Applications =Matrizes tridimensionais porosas, hidrogéis e materiais reforçados com fosfatos de cálcio à base de fibroína de seda para aplicaç?

Bone and cartilage defects derived from trauma or disease are major problems in orthopedics. Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine provides promising strategies for the regeneration of damaged tissues. Biomaterials, processed into porous scaffolds and hydrogels, have been playing a crucial role in the tissue regeneration. Controlling the physicochemical properties of biomaterials is important for inducing proper cellular response towards tissue formation, thus facilitating the regeneration procedure. While the ideal tissue regeneration outcome has not yet been achieved, great progress had been made in the last decades, in terms of the application of biomaterials for tissue regeneration.;The aim of this thesis is to develop novel silk fibroin (SF) based porous scaffolds and hydrogels with adequate properties and controlled conformations for different tissues regeneration. Several strategies were used in this thesis, including the improvement of scaffolds' strength, biomimetic of the tissue composition and stratified structure, and development of stimuli-responsive hydrogels with injectable or spatial tunable properties. SF derived from Bombyx mori cocoons was chosen as the matrix material because it has many advantages. It is a biodegradable protein based biomaterial with superior in vitro and in vivo biocompatibility. Moreover, its mechanical properties and degradation profile can be tuned by the processing approach. SF can be processed into different shapes and architectures, and it is a readily available supply.;In this thesis, different strategies for developing novel SF based scaffolds and enzymatically cross-linked hydrogels were explored. In both cases remarkable properties and functions for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications were achieved, as well as a high reproducibility of the systems. The SF based scaffolds and enzymatically cross-linked SF hydrogels provided herein can be promising candidates for cartilage, meniscus, bone, and osteochondral regeneration, as well as drug delivery systems or tissue substitutes. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).