An ideal wound dressing for full-thickness wound regeneration should offer desirable biocompatibility, adequate mechanical properties, barrier function, and cellular regulation. Here, a bilayer scaffold resembling the hierarchical structure of human skin was developed using silk fibroin and sodium alginate. The upper membrane was prepared through casting and functioned as the epidermis, whereas the lower porous scaffold was prepared by freeze-drying and mimicked extracellular matrix structures. The membrane had nonporous structure, desirable mechanical properties, moderate hydrophilic surface, and suitable water vapor transmission rate, whereas the porous scaffold revealed 157.61 ± 41.67 µm pore size, 86.10 ± 3.60% porosity, and capability of stimulating fibroblast proliferation. The combination of the two structures reinforced the tensile strength by 5-fold and provided protection from wound dehydration. A suitable degradation rate reduced potential administration frequency. Furthermore, an in vivo rabbit full-thickness wound healing test demonstrated that the bilayer scaffold facilitated wound closure, granulation tissue formation, re-epithelialization and skin component transition towards normal skin by providing a moist wound environment, advancing the inflammation stage, and stimulating angiogenesis. Collectively, as an off-the-shelf and cell-free wound dressing with single topical administration, the bilayer scaffold is a promising wound dressing for full-thickness wound regeneration.

The extracellular matrix (ECM) is important for maintaining cell phenotype and promoting cell proliferation and differentiation. In order to better solve the problem of skin appendage regeneration, a combination of mechanical/enzymatic digestion methods was used to self-extract dermal papilla cells (DPCs), which were seeded on silk fibroin/sodium alginate scaffolds as seed cells to evaluate the possibility of skin regeneration/regeneration of accessory organs. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) graphs showed that the interconnected pores inside the scaffold had a pore diameter in the range of 153–311 μm and a porosity of 41–82%. Immunofluorescence (IF) staining and cell morphological staining proved that the extracted cells were DPCs. The results of a Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and Calcein-AM/PI live-dead cell staining showed that the DPCs grew well in the composite scaffold extract. Normal cell morphology and characteristics of aggregation growth were maintained during the 3-day culture, which showed that the silk fibroin/sodium alginate (SF/SA) composite scaffold had good cell-compatibility. Hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) staining of tissue sections further proved that the cells adhered closely and aggregated to the pore wall of the scaffold, and retained the ability to induce differentiation of hair follicles. All these results indicate that, compared with a pure scaffold, the composite scaffold promotes the adhesion and growth of DPCs. We transplanted the SF/SA scaffolds into the back wounds of SD rats, and evaluated the damage model constructed in vivo. The results showed that the scaffold inoculated with DPCs could accelerate the repair of the skin and promote the regeneration of the hair follicle structure.

The effect of sintering atmosphere (air and Ar) and temperature (1100, 1200, 1300 °C) on the microstructure, mechanical properties, and bioactivity of hydroxyapatite/tantalum (HA/Ta) composites were systematically investigated by pressureless sintering of the mixture of HA and Ta powders. It shows that the sintering atmosphere greatly impacts the phase composition and microstructure of the HA/Ta composites. The higher diffusion of atoms promotes shrinkage and causes deeper reaction fusion between the HA matrix and Ta, which improved the interfacial binding of the HA/Ta composites. The refined grain structure and improved interfacial binding obtained within the Ar atmosphere compared to the air atmosphere benefit the mechanical properties. The maximum bending strength and shrinkage observed for the composites sintered at 1300 °C in the Ar atmosphere are 27.24 MPa and 6.65%, respectively. The cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) method was used to investigate the in vitro cytocompatibility of HA/Ta composites. The results revealed that the HA/Ta composites sintered with different conditions have no cytotoxicity. The simulated body fluid (SBF) soaking results showed that all of the studied composites possess desirable bioactivity, as demonstrated by their ability to form calcium-deficient carbonate apatite layer on the surfaces. For composites sintered at 1300 °C, the surface apatite layer coverage of the composites obtained in the Ar atmosphere was increased by 139.7% than the ones obtained in air, which confirmed an enhanced bioactive mineralization ability. The results indicated that the HA/Ta composites sintered at 1300 °C in Ar possess desirable mechanical properties and bioactivity. This work opens up the new possibility for preparing HA-based composites and is of great value in biomedical applications.