The development of bone tissue engineering scaffolds still remains a challenging field, although various biomaterials have been developed for this purpose. Electrospinning is a promising approach to fabricate nanofibers with an interconnected porous structure, which can support cell adhesion, guide cell proliferation and regulate cell differentiation. The aim of this study is to fabricate composite fibers composed of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) and silica nanoparticles (NPs) via electrospinning and investigate the effect of PLGA/SiO2 composite fibers on the cellular response of osteoblast-like cells (SaOS-2 cells). SEM and EDX analysis showed that silica NPs were homogenously dispersed in the composite fibers. The mechanical behavior of the fibers showed that silica NPs acted as reinforcements at concentrations of 2.5 and 5 mg/ml. The incorporation of silica NPs led to enhancement of cell attachment and spreading on PLGA/SiO2 composite fibers. SaOS-2 cells cultured on PLGA/SiO2 composite fibers exhibited increased alkaline phosphatase activity, collagen secretion and bone nodules formation. The bone nodules formation of SaOS-2 cells increased along with the amount of incorporated silica NPs. The present findings indicate that PLGA/SiO2 composite fibers can stimulate osteogenic differentiation of SaOS-2 cells and may be a promising candidate scaffold for bone tissue engineering.
Keywords: bone tissue engineering; composite fibers; osteogenic differentiation; silica nanoparticles.