A potential material for tissue engineering: Silkworm silk/PLA biocomposite

Abstract

Poly(lactic acid) (PLA), a kind of well recognized bio-degradable polymer, was reinforced by silkworm silk fibers to form a completely biodegradable and biocompatible biocomposite for tissue engineering applications. The influence on the mechanical and thermal properties of the biocomposite in relation to the length and weight content of silk fibers is studied in this paper. Through the micro-hardness test, optimized fiber length and weight content of silk fibers used to make a better strength silk fiber/PLA biocomposite was determined. Tensile property test and thermal analyses including differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and thermogravimetry analysis (TGA) for the silk fiber/PLA biocomposite with specified fiber length and weight content were then conducted to investigate its property changes in comparison to a pristine PLA sample.Experimentally, it was found that the fiber length and weight content of silk fibers are key parameters that would substantially influence the hardness of the biocomposite samples. For microscopic observations, good wettability of the fibers inside the biocomposite was seen. The surface of the fibers was well bonded with the matrix, as observed by a SEM image of fractured sample. As a result, it was found that the use of silk fibers can be a good candidate, as reinforcements for the development of polymeric scaffolds for tissue engineering applications.

Natural fibre-reinforced composites for bioengineering and environmental engineering applications

“…Cheung et al [30] have demonstrated that the use of silk fibre to reinforce PLA can significantly increase its elastic modulus and ductility to 40% and 53%, respectively, as compared with a pristine sample. It was also found that the bio-degradability of silk/PLA biocomposites was altered with the content of the silk fibre in the composites.…”

Biocomposites: Their multifunctionality

“…By using silk fiber as reinforcement for biodegradable polymer, the mechanical properties do have a substantial change. Cheung, Lau, and Tao [27] have demonstrated that the use of silk fiber to reinforce poly(lactic acid) (PLA) can increase its elastic modulus and ductility to 40% and 53%, respectively, as compared with a pristine sample. It was also found that the biodegradability of silk/PLA biocomposites was altered with the content of the silk fiber in the composites.…”

Cistanche polysaccharide (CDPS)/polylactic acid (PLA) scaffolds based coaxial electrospinning for vascular tissue engineering

“…PLA was the most popular material which was applied in biomedicine for the reason that its end product of degradation were H 2 O and CO 2 [5][6][7] . Nevertheless, there were so little bioactive groups existed in the surface of material that PLA owned low biocompatibility.…”