We developed a straightforward, fast, and versatile technique to fabricate mineralized nanofibrous polymer scaffolds for bone regeneration in this work. Nanofibrous poly(l-lactic acid) scaffolds were fabricated using both electrospinning and phase separation techniques. An electrodeposition process was designed to deposit calcium phosphate on the nanofibrous scaffolds. Such scaffolds contain a high quality mineral coating on the fiber surface with tunable surface topography and chemical composition by varying the processing parameters, which can mimic the composition and structure of natural bone extracellular matrix and provide a more biocompatible interface for bone regeneration.

A tissue-engineering scaffold resembling the characteristic structure of the natural extracellular matrix can often facilitate tissue regeneration. Nerve and tendon are oriented micro-scale sheathed tissue bundles. In this study, a method combining injection molding and thermally induced phase separation techniques was developed to create single- and multiple-channeled nanofibrous (NF) poly(L-lactic acid) scaffolds. The overall shape, the number and arrangement of channels, and the channel wall matrix architecture of the scaffolds were tailored by altering the configuration of the mold assembly and the phase separation conditions. The porosity and mechanical properties of the scaffolds were tailored by varying the concentration of the polymer solution used. The porous NF channel wall matrix provided a beneficial luminal microenvironment that increased protein adsorption and promoted the attachment of PC12 rat neuronal cells and rabbit patellar tendon fibroblast cells, showing potential for neural and tendon tissue regeneration.