Nano-composite of silk fibroin–chitosan/Nano ZrO2 for tissue engineering applications: Fabrication and morphology

A scaffold possessing certain desired features such as biodegradation, biocompatibility, and porous structure could serve as a template for tissue engineering. In the present study, silk fibroin (SF), chitosan (CS) and zirconia (Nano ZrO2) were all combined using the freeze drying technique to fabricate a bio-composite scaffold. The composite scaffold (SF/CS/Nano ZrO2) was characterized by SEM, XRD, TGA, BET and FT-IR studies. The scaffold was found to possess a porous nature with pore dimensions suitable for cell infiltration and colonization. The presence of zirconia in the SF/CS/Nano ZrO2 scaffold led to an increase in compressive strength and water uptake capacity while at the same time decreasing the porosity. Cytocompatibility of the SF/CS/Nano ZrO2 scaffold, assessed by MTT assay, revealed non-toxicity to the Human Gingival Fibroblast (HGF, NCBI: C-131). Thus, we suggest that SF/CS/Nano ZrO2 composite scaffold is a potential candidate to be used for tissue engineering.