Preparation Of Electrospun SF/PLGA Tissue Engineering Scaffolds And Their Biocompatibility

Electrospinning technology can prepare nanofibers in a direct, rapid andcontinuous mode, and become one of the main ways to prepare nanofibrous tissueengineering scaffolds. Scaffolds prepared by electrospinning technology have thefollowing characteristics:1) Scaffolds can simulate the native extracellular matrix(ECM) topology structure, high porosity and specific surface area which can supportendothelial cells, smooth muscle cells and fibroblast adhesion and differentiation;2)By adjusting the process parameters of spinning process and the characteristics of thesolution, we can obtain scaffolds with different morphology, porosity and porediameter to meet the requirements;3) Natural materials, synthetic materials or the twomixed can be used in electrospinning process, so scaffolds are able to get goodmechanical and biological properties to meet different needs. Because of these uniqueadvantages, the electrospinning technology has become a research hotspot in recentyears.In this paper, firstly, high molecular weight biodegradable polymer (lacticacid/glycolic acid copolymer (PLGA)) was synthesized by the method of bulkpolymerization; secondly, nanofibrous scaffolds of SF and PLGA have been preparedby electrospinning technology. And we researched the influence of the solutionconcentration, spinning voltage, receiving distance and volume flow rate, mass ratioof SF and PLGA on the fiber morphology structure. Ethanol was used to treat thescaffolds to decrease water solubility. The changes of morphology and secondarystructure before and after ethanol processing were studied by SEM and FTIR; thechanges of mechanical properties, water contact angle, dissolving rate and porositywere also tested; Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were seeded onthe surface of SF/PLGA fibrous scaffolds to investigate the biocompatibility.These results suggested that glycolide and lactide can be polymerized in140oCunder nitrogen protection for24h; the viscosity average molecular weight can be highas1.4×105and can meet the needs for electrospinning. The ideal parameters ofSF/PLGA composite electrospinning are as follows: the concentration of SF/PLGA is10%, spinning voltage is15kV, volume flow rate is0.3mL/h, and receiving distance is15cm. After ethanol treatment, SF molecule transferred from random coil structureinto β-sheet conformation, the fiber diameter increased, the porosity of the scaffoldsdecreased slightly, the dissolvability of scaffolds decreased, and the mechanicalstrength increased. SF could improve the hydrophilicity of electrospun scaffoldseffectively, and also enhanced the adhesion and proliferation of HUVECssignificantly. Thus, ethanol-treated SF/PLGA nanofibrous scaffolds have goodbiocompatibility and have a good application prospect in the field of tissueengineering.