Electrospinning of silk fibroin and collagen for vascular tissue engineering

Tubular scaffolds of silk fibroin (SF)/collagen (Col) were prepared by electrospinning with the aim to develop a new scaffold for vascular tissue engineering. The effects of the solvent, solution concentration and collagen content on the morphology of the scaffolds were investigated by SEM. FTIR and XRD were used to investigate their structural changes. Although there were morphological and structural differences, the water uptake and the tensile strength of the scaffolds with different collagen content showed no significant difference. This study confirmed the feasibility of the fabrication of SF/Col tubular scaffold by electrospinning from aqueous solution and provided promising tubular scaffold for vascular tissue engineering. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.