Preparation of electrospun silk fibroin fiber mats as bone scaffolds: a preliminary study

In the present contribution, electrospinning (e-spinning) was used to fabricate ultra-fine fibers of silk fibroin (SF) from cocoons of indigenous Thai silkworms (Nang-Lai) and Chinese/Japanese hybrid silkworms (DOAE-7). The effects of solution concentration (i.e., 10-40% (w/v) in 85% (v/v) formic acid) and applied electrostatic field strength (EFS; 10, 15 and 20 kV/10 cm) on morphology and size of the electrospun (e-spun) SF products were investigated by scanning electron microscopy. The average diameter of the resulting e-spun SF fibers was found to increase with an increase in both the solution concentration and the EFS value. Specifically, the average diameter of the e-spun SF fibers from Nang-Lai SF solutions ranged between 217 and 610 nm, while that of the fibers from DOAE-7 SF solutions ranged between 183 and 810 nm. The potential for use of the e-spun SF fiber mats as bone scaffolds was assessed with mouse osteoblast-like cells (MC3T3-E1) in which the cells appeared to adhere and proliferate well on their surface.