Non-Mulberry Silk Fiber-Based Composite Scaffolds Containing Millichannels for Auricular Cartilage Regeneration

Abstract

Tissue engineering has made significant progress as a cartilage repair alternative. It is crucial to promote cell proliferation and migration within three-dimensional (3D) bulk scaffolds for tissue regeneration through either chemical gradients or physical channels. In this study, by developing optimized silk fiber-based composite scaffolds, millimeter-scaled channels were created in the corresponding scaffolds via facile physical percussive drilling and subsequently utilized for auricular cartilage regeneration. We found that by the introduction of poly- l -lactic acid porous microspheres (PLLA PMs), the channels incorporated into the Antheraea pernyi (Ap) silk fiber-based scaffolds were reinforced, and the mechanical features were well maintained. Moreover, Ap silk fiber-based scaffolds reinforced by PLLA PMs containing channels (CMAF) exhibited excellent chondrocyte proliferation, migration, and synthesis of cartilage-specific extracellular matrix (ECM) in vitro . The biological evaluation in vivo revealed that CMAF had a higher chondrogenic capability for an even deposition of the specific ECM component. This study suggested that multihierarchical CMAF may have potential application for auricular cartilage regeneration.

Additive manufacturing of sustainable biomaterials for biomedical applications

“…Chitosan, a polysaccharide material derived from the deacetylation of chitin, is found in crustacean skeleton and extensively applied in biomedical applications [114] , [115] , [116] . However, the low mechanical resistance of these materials limits their use in drug delivery applications [117] , [118] , [119] . Alginate, a heteropolysaccharide, which abundantly exists as an ingredient of cell walls of brown seaweed and in the capsule of bacteria pseudomonas sp.…”