The development of biofunctional and bioactive hybrid polymeric scaffolds seek to mitigate the current challenges in the emerging field of tissue engineering. In this paper, we report the fabrication of a biomimetic and biocompatible nanofibrous scaffolds of polyamide-6,6 (PA-6,6) blended with biopolymer chitosan via one step co-electrospinning technique. Different weight percentage of chitosan 10wt%, 15wt%, and 20wt% were blended with PA-6,6, respectively. The nanocomposite electrospun scaffolds mats enabled to provide the osteophilic environment for cells growth and biomineralization. The morphological and physiochemical properties of the resulted scaffolds were studied using field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The improvement in hydrophilicity and mechanical strength of the bio-nanocomposite mesh with 20wt% chitosan embedded, was the desired avenue for adhesion, proliferation and maturation of osteoblast cells as compared to other sample groups and pure PA-6,6 fibrous mat. The biomineralization of the nanocomposite electrospun mats also showed higher ability to nucleate bioactive calcium phosphate (Ca/P) nanoparticles comparing to pristine PA-6,6. Furthermore, the biomimetic nature of scaffolds exhibited the cells viability and regeneration of pre-osteoblast (MC3T3-E1) cells which were assessed via in vitro cell culture test. Collectively, the results suggested that the optimized 20wt% of chitosan supplemented hybrid electrospun fibrous scaffold has significant effect in biomedical field to create osteogenic capabilities for tissue engineering.
Keywords: Biocompatibility; Bone tissue engineering; Chitosan; Electrospinning; Nanofiber; Polyamide-6,6.
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