High fibroin-loaded silk-PCL electrospun fiber with core-shell morphology promotes epithelialization with accelerated wound healing

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry. B, Materials for biology and medicine Materials for biology and medicine, 2022-11, Vol.1 (46), p.9622-9638
• Main Authors: Rajasekaran, Ragavi, Dutta, Abir, Ray, Preetam Guha, Seesala, Venkata Sundeep, Ojha, Atul Kumar, Dogra, Nantu, Roy, Sabyasachi, Banerjee, Mamoni, Dhara, Santanu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amino acids; Biodegradability; Biodegradation; Biopolymers; Cell proliferation; Comparative studies; Composition; Core-shell structure; Degree of crystallinity; Electrospinning; Emulsions; Fibers; Fibroins - chemistry; Fibroins - pharmacology; Humans; Hydrophobicity; In vivo methods and tests; Lysozyme; Mechanical properties; Mesenchyme; Modulus of elasticity; Morphology; Nanofibers - chemistry; Nanoindentation; Nanostructure; Polyesters - chemistry; Polymers; Protein adsorption; Shells; Silk; Silk - chemistry; Silk fibroin; Stem cell transplantation; Stem cells; Substrates; Tensile tests; Wound Healing
• ISSN: 2050-750X; 2050-7518
• DOI: 10.1039/d2tb01890j

Silk fibroin (SF) is a widely explored biopolymer for wound-healing applications due to the presence of amino acids in the biodegradable polymer chain with superior mechanical properties. Herein, a high SF-loaded fibrous matrix along with poly( -caprolactone) (PCL) was fabricated using electrospinning of emulsion and blend compositions to modulate nanostructure morphology. A comparative study of the physicomechanical properties of electrospun fibers with emulsion ( e S 7 P 3 ) and homogenous blend ( b S 7 P 3 ) was performed as well. In both compositions, SF loading of up to 70% was successfully achieved in the spun fibers while emulsion yielded core-shell morphology, and the blend resulted in monolith fiber architecture as evidenced by TEM microscopy. Further characterization revealed superior mechanical properties in S 7 P 3 fiber with core-shell morphology, as compared to those in the monolith in terms of a higher degree of crystallinity with Young's modulus of 60 MPa under tensile test and nanoindentation modulus of 1.59 ± 0.8 GPa. Further, e S 7 P 3 nanostructure morphology containing silk in the core with a thin outer layer of PCL facilitated relatively faster biodegradation in the lysozyme medium, as compared to that in the monolith. Owing to the presence of a hydrophobic shell, protein adsorption on the fibrous mat presented slow but steady kinetics up to 24 h. When the scaffold was seeded with human placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hPMSCs), in vitro study confirmed that the e S 7 P 3 structure had marginally higher cell proliferation with superior cell infiltration than the monolith. Further, in vivo study involving a rodent model showed the potential of the e S 7 P 3 fiber substrate with a core-shell structure for accelerating full-thickness wound healing by inducing hair follicle and wound closure with less scar formation after 15 days. High SF loaded-PCL electrospun fiber with core-shell morphology promotes epithelialization with accelerated wound healing.