Preparation and Characterization of Electrospun PCL/Silk Fibroin Scaffolds

Natural polymer-based scaffolds are generally considered as favourable matrices for the adhesion and growth of cells in tissue repair. One of the most popular materials in this respect is silk fibroin, known for its wide usage in biomedical applications. This work focuses on the development of electrospun scaffolds based on poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) and silk fibroin (SF) evaluated regarding the SF effect on their morphology, surface wetting ability, thermal properties, and HaCaT model cell line biocompatibility. The study revealed that the lowest PCL/SF concentration resulted in highest bead-like morphology formation, relatively thick fibers with the presence of random beads in the case of PCL, while uniform and thinner fibers in the case of increasing PCL/SF content scaffolds. The addition of SF reduced the degree of crystallinity in the PCL due to the less organized crystal structure, and decreased its thermal stability. Both SEM and MTT analyses showed cell presence on all scaffolds three days after cell seeding. Although SF improved PCL hydrophilicity, as shown quantitatively by the MTT assay for improved cytocompatibility properties, more structured electrospun PCL/SF scaffold strategies are required.