Fabrication of Silk-Hyaluronan Composite as a Potential Scaffold for Tissue Repair

Li-Min Yu; Tao Liu; Yu-Long Ma; Feng Zhang; Yong-Can Huang; Zhi-Hai Fan

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2020.578988

Fabrication of Silk-Hyaluronan Composite as a Potential Scaffold for Tissue Repair

Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2020 Dec 11:8:578988. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2020.578988. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Li-Min Yu¹, Tao Liu², Yu-Long Ma¹, Feng Zhang², Yong-Can Huang^{1

3}, Zhi-Hai Fan⁴

Affiliations

¹ Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Spine Surgery, Department of Spine Surgery, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, China.
² Department of Textile Engineering, College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
³ Shenzhen Engineering Laboratory of Orthopaedic Regenerative Technologies, National and Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Orthopaedic Biomaterials, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, China.
⁴ Department of Orthopedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.

Abstract

Interest is rapidly growing in the design and preparation of bioactive scaffolds, mimicking the biochemical composition and physical microstructure for tissue repair. In this study, a biomimetic biomaterial with nanofibrous architecture composed of silk fibroin and hyaluronic acid (HA) was prepared. Silk fibroin nanofiber was firstly assembled in water and then used as the nanostructural cue; after blending with hyaluronan (silk:HA = 10:1) and the process of freeze-drying, the resulting composite scaffolds exhibited a desirable 3D porous structure and specific nanofiber features. These scaffolds were very porous with the porosity up to 99%. The mean compressive modulus of silk-HA scaffolds with HA MW of 0.6, 1.6, and 2.6 × 10⁶ Da was about 28.3, 30.2, and 29.8 kPa, respectively, all these values were much higher than that of pure silk scaffold (27.5 kPa). This scaffold showed good biocompatibility with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, and it enhanced the cellular proliferation significantly when compared with the plain silk fibroin. Collectively, the silk-hyaluronan composite scaffold with a nanofibrous structure and good biocompatibility was successfully prepared, which deserved further exploration as a biomimetic platform for mesenchymal stem cell-based therapy for tissue repair.

Keywords: biomimetic scaffold; hyaluronic acid; mesenchymal stem cells; silk; tissue repair.