Composite mesoporous silica nanoparticle/chitosan nanofibers for bone tissue engineering

Electrospinning of inorganic-organic composites into nanofibers has emerged as a new approach for fabricating scaffolds for biomimetically engineered bone tissues. This paper reports novel biomimetic nanocomposite nanofibers composed of mesoporous silica nanoparticles/chitosan (MSN/CTS) prepared by electrospinning. The optimal conditions for electrospinning CTS and MSNs were identified to produce beadless nanofibers without any aggregation of the MSNs. The mechanical properties of the composite scaffolds were analyzed by tensile tests for scaffolds with varying contents of MSNs within CTS fibers. Increasing the MSN content to 10 wt% enhanced the mechanical properties of the composite scaffolds, whereas increasing the content beyond 10 wt% disrupted the polymer chain networks within the CTS nanofibers and weakened the mechanical strength of the fibers. Swelling ratio, shrinkage and biodegradation properties were characterized. MTT, SEM, alkaline phosphatase activity and Alizarin Red staining analysis of osteoblast-cultured scaffolds confirmed the biocompatibility and functionally promoted biomineralization of the composite scaffolds. Thus, the prepared MSN/CTS composite nanofibrous mats are highly promising as local implantable scaffolds for potential bone tissue engineering applications.