title: Nano-composite of silk fibroin-chitosan/Nano ZrO2 for tissue engineering applications: fabrication and morphology.
abstract: A scaffold possessing certain desired features such as biodegradation, biocompatibility, and porous structure could serve as a template for tissue engineering. In the present study, silk fibroin (SF), chitosan (CS) and zirconia (Nano ZrO2) were all combined using the freeze drying technique to fabricate a bio-composite scaffold. The composite scaffold (SF/CS/Nano ZrO2) was characterized by SEM, XRD, TGA, BET and FT-IR studies. The scaffold was found to possess a porous nature with pore dimensions suitable for cell infiltration and colonization. The presence of zirconia in the SF/CS/Nano ZrO2 scaffold led to an increase in compressive strength and water uptake capacity while at the same time decreasing the porosity. Cytocompatibility of the SF/CS/Nano ZrO2 scaffold, assessed by MTT assay, revealed non-toxicity to the Human Gingival Fibroblast (HGF, NCBI: C-131). Thus, we suggest that SF/CS/Nano ZrO2 composite scaffold is a potential candidate to be used for tissue engineering.
authors.affiliation: Chemistry Department, Payame Noor University, Tehran 19395-3697, Iran. Electronic address: a_teimouri@pnu.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Abbas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Teimouri
authors.affiliation: Chemistry Department, Payame Noor University, Tehran 19395-3697, Iran.
authors.forename: Raheleh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ebrahimi
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan 84156-83111, Iran.
authors.forename: Rahmatollah
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Emadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomical Sciences, Medical School, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Batool Hashemi
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Beni
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan 84156-83111, Iran.
authors.forename: Alireza Najafi
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Chermahini
mesh_terms: D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry*; D005349:Fibroins / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D008422:Materials Testing; D053761:Nanocomposites / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D016062:Porosity; D047011:Silk / Q000737:chemistry*; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013816:Thermodynamics; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction; D015040:Zirconium / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D047011:Silk; D005349:Fibroins; D048271:Chitosan; D015040:Zirconium; C028541:zirconium oxide
keywords: Chitosan; Microporous materials; Silk fibroin; Tissue engineering