Effect of Thai Silk Fibroin on Mechanical Properties of Bioactive Glass Silk Fibroin Hybrid Bone Scaffolds

Abstract

Abstract Bioactive glass (70 mol% Si and 30% Ca; 70S30C) has been used as tissue engineering scaffolds in various research despite its brittleness due to its easy-to-replicate formula, extensive interconnected pores and natural bone bonding property of bioactive glass (BG). Thai silk fibroin (SF) is natural polymer with many desirable properties; biocompatibility, mechanical strength, biodegradability. Using BG-SF hybrid scaffolds could employ the positive effects of both bioactive glass and silk fibroin. Serving as bone scaffolds, BG-SF scaffolds must resist compression and other types of mechanical load depending on the application. This study fabricates scaffolds with various ratios of BG:SF (BG:SF; 90:10, 80:20 with 100:0 as control), and their stress-strain profiles were investigated. As expected, the scaffolds with highest BG content exhibited the curve resembling that of porous foam while the elastomeric stress-strain profile was becoming more evident when the SF content was increased. This study hence demonstrated fine-tuning mechanical properties of the BG using locally enriched SF.