Electrospun gelatin-polyvinyl alcohol-silk fibre/hydroxyapatite scaffolds and their physicochemical and biological studies

The present study is focused on the preparation of a gelatin-polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-silk fibre (SF)/hydroxyapatite (HAP) composite. Here, HAP acted as a reinforcement in the Gelatin-PVA-SF matrix to enhance the mechanical and biological properties. The gelatin-PVA-SF/HAP (10-70 wt% of HAP was added to 10:70:20 of gelatin-PVA-SF) nanocomposite was prepared via the electrospinning method and characterised by XRD, FTIR, and SEM-EDAX techniques. The highest tensile strength (93.81 MPa) was observed for 60 wt% of HAP-added composite. To evaluate the scaffold's suitability for bone tissue engineering applications, antimicrobial activity, hemocompatibility with human blood and bioactivity studies were carried out. The zone of inhibition against the microbes is as follows: E. coli - 52 mm, S. aureus - 48 mm, C. albicans - 42 mm and hemocompatibility assay showed less hemolytic (%) 1.24% for gelatin/PVA/SF with 60 wt% of HAP composite. The results suggest that gelatin/PVA/silk fibre with 60 wt% of HAP nanocomposite could be an effective and potential candidate for bone tissue engineering applications based on the mechanical, antimicrobial activity and apatite formation ability. Cytotoxicity evaluation was carried out using L929 cells (mouse fibroblast cells) for the gelatin/PVA/silk fibre with 60 wt% of HAP nanocomposite.