Preparation of fibroin/recombinant human-like collagen scaffold to promote fibroblasts compatibility

Recombinant human-like collagen (RHLC) was added to fibroin solution to prepare a novel hybrid scaffold material for skin tissue engineering. The morphology of the scaffold had highly homogeneous and interconnected pores with pore sizes 136 +/- 32 mu m measured by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). FTIR analysis indicated intermolecular crosslinkages between fibroin and RHLC formed. The viscosity of the blend solution increased because of the interaction between fibroin and RHLC, and then it restrained the unwanted fibroin aggregation in freezing process that generally appeared in fibroin scaffold preparation with freeze drying method. After methanol treatment the fibroin/RHLC scaffold became water-stable. The porosity of scaffolds was >90%, the compressive strength and modulus were up to 662 +/- 32 KPa and 7.8 +/- 0.64 MPa, respectively. Fibroblasts cultured within fibroin/RHLC scaffolds were investigated by SEM, laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM), and MTT assay, which showed that the adding of RHLC significantly enhanced the cells adhesion, proliferation, and viability compare with fibroin scaffolds. These results suggest that the hybrid scaffolds have favorable characteristics for skin tissue engineering. (c) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.