Comparision of electro spun tassar silk fibroin-hydroxyapatite composite scaffold prepared by soaking and in-situ methods

Several materials and structures have been experimented as scaffolds for bone tissue engineering applications. The work related to application of tassar silk electrospun scaffold for tissue engineering application is limited. In the present work, tassar silk fibroin - hydroxyapatite (TSF-Hap) composite scaffold was synthesised by soaking the TSF scaffold in the Hap solution. In another method (In-situ), Hap particles were added with silk fibroin polymer solution and the scaffold was fabricated by electrospinning process. The scaffolds were assessed for physical and biological characteristics. TSF-Hap (in-situ) showed more crystallanity than pure TSF and TSF-Hap (soaking) scaffolds. Thermal stability of the TSF- Hap (soaking) scaffold was better than that of the pure TSF and TSF-Hap (in-situ) scaffolds, due to the presence of the inorganic salt hydroxyapatite on the surface of fibrous mat. All the three scaffolds were proved to be hemocompatible. The cell viability was better on TSF-Hap (in-situ) scaffold compared to that of pure TSF and TSF-Hap (soaking) scaffolds. The higher brittleness of TSF-Hap (soaking) scaffold caused breakage of scaffold during handling. Hence, TSF– Hap (in-situ) can be considered as a better candidate for being used as scaffold for bone tissue engineering applications.