Preparation and characterization of silk fibroin/poly(l-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) nanofibrous membranes for tissue engineering applications

In recent years, silk fibroin has become one of the most promising tissue engineering materials because of its excellent cytocompatibility. Poly(l-lactide-co-epsilon-caprolactone), the copolymer of poly(l-lactide) and poly(epsilon-caprolactone), possesses good mechanical properties, and its degradation rates can be manipulated by varying the ratio of the constituent polymers. In this study, in order to combine their respective characteristics, silk fibroin/poly(l-lactide-co-epsilon-caprolactone) nanofibrous membranes were fabricated through electrospinning with different mass ratios of 100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75, and 0:100. The surface properties, thermodynamic properties, mechanical properties, and cytocompatibility of silk fibroin/poly(l-lactide-co-epsilon-caprolactone) blended membranes were evaluated, and an optimal blending ratio was identified. The results showed that the silk fibroin/poly(l-lactide-co-epsilon-caprolactone) blended membranes containing 75% of silk fibroin and 25% of poly(l-lactide-co-epsilon-caprolactone) achieved the most improved performances compared with the single-component membranes or the blended membranes with other mixing ratios. The results from this study indicated that 75/25 silk fibroin/poly(l-lactide-co-epsilon-caprolactone) blended membranes which combined the advantages of poly(l-lactide-co-epsilon-caprolactone) and silk fibroin might be a suitable candidate material for use in tissue engineering.