Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

A silk fibroin tubular scaffold (SFTS) has been designed and fabricated using silk fabric and regenerated silk fibroin, and used in the construction of artificial blood vessels. As a replacement for blood vessels, scaffolds should have a suitable interface for the adherence and proliferation of vascular cells, and the pore structure of the internal surface is one of most important factors. In this article, we investigate the effect of SFTSs with different pore structures on cells growth. Pore structures were controlled by adjusting the concentration of both the silk fibroin and the polyethylene glycol diglycidyl ether cross-linker as well as the freezing temperature. Intuitive cell fluorescence imaging and MTT assays on fibroblasts and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) were used to probe interactions with internal surfaces of differing pore diameter and density. The results showed that SFTSs fabricated under different conditions exhibited no cytotoxicity. Furthermore, fibroblasts were highly migratory, occupied the interface and could bridge the macropores well when the pore diameter was 50 ∼ 75 µm. SFTSs with micropores of about 30 ∼ 50 µm in diameter were deemed suitable for the growth and proliferation of HUVECs.

Keywords

silk fabric silk fibroin tubular scaffold pore structure cell growth

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Madden

Lai

JNX

George

. Human corneal endothelial cell growth on a silk fibroin membrane. Biomater 2011; 32: 4076–4084.

Yan

Oliveira

. Macro/microporous silk fibroin scaffolds with potential for articular cartilage and meniscus tissue engineering applications. Acta Biomater 2012; 8: 289–301.

Sell

McClure

Ayres

. Preliminary investigation of airgap electrospun silk-fibroin-based structures for ligament analogue engineering. J Biomater Sci Polym Ed 2011; 22: 1253–1273.

Wang

Wei

. Cytocompatibility of a silk fibroin tubular scaffold. Mat Sci Eng C 2014; 34: 429–436.

Wharram

Zhang

Kaplan

. Electrospun silk material systems for wound healing. Macromol Biosci 2010; 10: 246–257.

McNichols

Wilkins

Kubota

. Investigating surface topology and cyclic-RGD peptide functionalization on vascular endothelialization. J Biomed Mater Res A 2014; 102A: 532–539.

Liu

Ding

. In vitro evaluation of combined sulfated silk fibroin scaffolds for vascular cell growth. Macromol Biosci 2013; 3: 755–766.

Clowes

Kirkman

Reidy

. Mechanisms of arterial graft healing Rapid transmural capillary ingrowth provides a source of intimal endothelium and smooth muscle in porous PTFE prostheses. Am J Pathol 1986; 123: 220–230.

Liu ZW, Huang HY, Yang YX, et al. Construction and analysis of morphological characteristics of a novel fabric-based silk fibroin vascular prosthesis. In: TBIS2011 Int Sym on Textile Bioengineering and Informatics. 2011, pp.151–154.

10.

Wei

Sun

. Characterization of a PEG-DE cross-linked tubular silk scaffold. Text Res J 2014; 84: 959–967.

11.

Bos

Poot

Beugeling

. Small-diameter vascular graft prostheses: current status. Arch Physiol Biochem 1998; 106: 100–115.

12.

Yin

Hao

Liu

. Morphological structure and cytotoxicity of blood vessel-like small diameter silk fibroin-based tubular scaffold prepared under different conditions. CANYEKEXUE 2015; 41: 0361–0366. in chinese).

13.

Wang

Wei

. Preliminary biocompatibility evaluation of regenerated Antheraea yamamai silk fibroin in vitro. J Wuhan Univ Technol 2011; 26: 1044–1048.

Cell growth and proliferation on the interface of a silk fabric tubular scaffold

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References