Fabrication and Characterization of Porous Tubular Silk Fibroin Scaffolds

Silk fibroin (SF) has been one of promising resources of biotechnology and biomedical materials due to its unique properties. Here, different sizes of porous tubular scaffolds were fabricated from a SF aqueous solution with the addition of poly(ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether) (PGDE). The scaffolds were generally flexible and transparent at the wet state with a pore size of 81-128 mu m and porosity of 90-96%, depending on the concentrations of SF and PGDE. The mechanical properties measurement showed that the tubular SF scaffolds had satisfying tensile and compression properties, especially the excellent deformation-recovery ability. FT-IR spectra indicated that the SF in the tubular scaffolds was in a beta-sheet structure, and no PGDE characteristic band was observed, suggesting that the PGDE could be removed from the scaffolds by soaking in deionized water. The cell compatibility of scaffolds was evaluated, and no obvious cytotoxicity to mouse L-929 fibroblasts was detected. (C) Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2009