Prospective use of electrospun ultra-fine silicate fibers for bone tissue engineering

Electrospinning involves the generation of a jet of viscous solution, and results in the formation of ultra-fine fibers. Silicate fibers prepared using this technology and via the sol-gel process were evaluated as scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. We found that human osteoblastic MG63 cells successfully adhered on individual silicate fibers, and proliferated on them. In an apatite-formation ability study, spherical particles covered the fibers after soaking in simulated body fluid for 7 days. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis revealed that Ca/P atomic ratio of the particles was similar to that of human bone. In addition, X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that crystalline structure of the particles agreed with that of apatite. These results suggest that electrospun silicate fibers are a potential candidate for scaffolding material in bone tissue engineering.