Preparation and properties of biomimetic porous nanofibrous poly(l-lactide) scaffold with chitosan nanofiber network by a dual thermally induced phase separation technique

A biomimetic nanofibrous poly(l-lactide) scaffold decorated by chitosan nanofiber network inside the macropores was fabricated using a dual thermally induced phase separation technique. The first phase separation was used to build a nanofibrous poly(l-lactide) scaffold with interconnected macropores, where chitosan nanofibers about 500 nm in diameter were incorporated via the second phase separation. The content of nanofibrous chitosan was determined to be 5.76 in weight percentage by elemental analysis. The composite scaffold showed the highest protein adsorption of 7225 ± 116 μg/cm3 and the most hydroxyapatite crystal deposition in the mineralization. Compared with non-nanofibrous poly(l-lactide) scaffold, nanofibrous poly(l-lactide) scaffold exhibited a much faster degradation, but it could be restrained by the introduced chitosan nanofibers. The bone mesenchymal stem cell culture results indicated that the cells would rather attach and stretch along the chitosan nanofibers in the composite scaffold that showed the highest viability and the best cytocompatibility may be attributed to the biomimetic nanofibrous network and good cell affinity of chitosan nanofibers.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slideHighlights► A nanofibrous poly(l-lactide) scaffold with chitosan nanofiber network was prepared. ► Chitosan nanofibers had no effect on the structure of poly(l-lactide) scaffold. ► The composite scaffold showed the best protein adsorption and mineralization ability. ► Fast degradation of nanofibrous poly(l-lactide) was resisted by chitosan nanofibers. ► Chitosan nanofibers favored cell attachment and growth in the macropore space.