Wet-spun silk fibroin scaffold with hierarchical structure for ligament tissue engineering

•The scaffold features a hierarchical structure involving nanofibril, microfiber, and fiber bundles mimicking collagen structure of ligaments.•This scaffolds after 2 times drawing demonstrated the matching mechanical performance to human ACL.•This scaffolds made of regenerated silk fibers were biodegradable.

A regenerated silk fiber scaffold for ligament tissue engineering is prepared. The scaffold showed a designed hierarchical structure involving nanofibril, microfiber, and fiber bundles. This scaffolds after 2 times drawing demonstrated the matching mechanical performance to human anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Additionally, the biodegradation test shows that the regenerated silk scaffold losses 8% weight after incubation in PBS for about 60 days and 62% weight in actinomycetes protease solution for about 48 h. Thus, this novel regenerated SF scaffolds, combining with their hierarchical structure, mechanical properties, and biodegradability, could be applied with promise in ligament tissue engineering.

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