Preparation of SF/PLGA Scaffold with Microporous-Nano/Microfibrous Architecture by Thermal Induced Phase Separation

Normally a useful tissue engineering scaffold should provide suitable micropores and fibrous structure to mimic the natural extracellular matrix (ECM), which can induce desired cellular activities and guide tissue regeneration. In this work, a microporous and micro/nanofibrous silk fibroin-poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (SF-PLGA) scaffold prepared by thermal induced phase separation (TIPS) was described. Minitab statistical software was used to analyze the TIPS parameters effect on the pore size, porosity and fibre diameter. Results showed that the ECM-like architecture could be achieved by TIPS with the mean porosity 81 ± 16% and the pore size among 0.0–66.7 μm. Besides, cell viability tests revealed that the cells could proliferate on the SF/PLGA scaffolds. These results reveal that the SF-PLGA scaffolds prepared by TIPS are suitable for the future tissue engineering applications.