Composite Fiber Networks Based on Polycaprolactone and Bioactive Glass-Ceramics for Tissue Engineering Applications

In this work, composite fibers connected in three-dimensional porous scaffolds were fabricated by electrospinning, starting from polycaprolactone and inorganic powders synthesized by the sol-gel method. The aim was to obtain materials dedicated to the field of bone regeneration, with controllable properties of bioresorbability and bioactivity. The employed powders were nanometric and of a glass-ceramic type, a fact that constitutes the premise of a potential attachment to living tissue in the physiological environment. The morphological characterization performed on the composite materials validated both the fibrous character and oxide powder distribution within the polymer matrix. Regarding the biological evaluation, the period of immersion in simulated body fluid led to the initiation of polymer degradation and a slight mineralization of the embedded particles, while the osteoblast cells cultured in the presence of these scaffolds revealed a spatial distribution at different depths and a primary networking tendency, based on the composites' geometrical and dimensional features.