Electrospun Fibrous Silica for Bone Tissue Engineering Applications

Alexandra Elena Stoica Oprea; Alexandra Cătălina Bîrcă; Oana Gherasim; Anton Ficai; Alexandru Mihai Grumezescu; Ovidiu-Cristian Oprea; Bogdan Ștefan Vasile; Cornel Balta; Ecaterina Andronescu; Anca Oana Hermenean

doi:10.3390/pharmaceutics15061728

Electrospun Fibrous Silica for Bone Tissue Engineering Applications

Pharmaceutics. 2023 Jun 14;15(6):1728. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics15061728.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Science and Engineering of Oxide Materials and Nanomaterials, University Politehnica of Bucharest, 011061 Bucharest, Romania.
² Lasers Department, National Institute for Lasers, Plasma and Radiation Physics, 409 Atomistilor Street, 077125 Magurele, Romania.
³ Research Institute of the University of Bucharest-ICUB, University of Bucharest, 050657 Bucharest, Romania.
⁴ Academy of Romanian Scientists, Ilfov No. 3, 050044 Bucharest, Romania.
⁵ Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, Faculty of Applied Chemistry and Materials Science, University Politehnica of Bucharest, 1-7 Gheorghe Polizu Street, 011061 Bucharest, Romania.
⁶ National Research Center for Micro and Nanomaterials, University Politehnica of Bucharest, 060042 Bucharest, Romania.
⁷ HTP Research and Consulting, Joita, 087150 Giurgiu, Romania.
⁸ Research Center for Advanced Materials, Products and Processes, University of Bucharest, 060042 Bucharest, Romania.
⁹ "Aurel Ardelean" Institute of Life Sciences, Vasile Goldiş Western University of Arad, 310025 Arad, Romania.

Abstract

The production of highly porous and three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds with biomimicking abilities has gained extensive attention in recent years for tissue engineering (TE) applications. Considering the attractive and versatile biomedical functionality of silica (SiO₂) nanomaterials, we propose herein the development and validation of SiO₂-based 3D scaffolds for TE. This is the first report on the development of fibrous silica architectures, using tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) during the self-assembly electrospinning (ES) processing (a layer of flat fibers must first be created in self-assembly electrospinning before fiber stacks can develop on the fiber mat). The compositional and microstructural characteristics of obtained fibrous materials were evaluated by complementary techniques, in both the pre-ES aging period and post-ES calcination. Then, in vivo evaluation confirmed their possible use as bioactive scaffolds in bone TE.

Keywords: electrospinning; fibrous silica; tissue regeneration.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the grant POCU/993/6/13-153178, co-financed by the European Social Fund within the Sectorial Operational Program Human Capital 2014–2020 and Romanian Governmental through the National Programme “Installations and Strategic Objectives of National Interest”.