Incorporation of zeolite and silica nanoparticles into electrospun PVA/collagen nanofibrous scaffolds: The influence on the physical, chemical properties and cell behavior

Cartilage is under extensive investigation in tissue engineering research. Herein, we evaluated scaffolds prepared by composites of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and collagen incorporated with zeolite and silica nanoparticles (nZe and nSi). The scaffolds were prepared by the electrospinning method. The mean diameters of nanofibers were 0.61 +/- 0.34 mu m for PVA/collagen versuss 0.62 +/- 0.22 mu m and 0.66 +/- 0.25 mu m for the PVA/collagen/nZe and the PVA/collagen/nSi scaffolds, respectively. DAPI staining results revealed that cell proliferations on the PVA/collagen/nZe and PVA/collagen/nSi were strikingly higher than on the pure PVA/collagen. The results encouraged further investigation of PVA/collagen/nSi scaffolds as biomimetic platform for chondrocyte cells in tissue engineering.