Fabrication of Composite Microfibers Using Polylactic Acid/Calcium Phosphate Sol for Bone Tissue Regeneration

The scaffolds for bone tissue regeneration are designed to function as an artificial extracellular matrix (ECM) to temporarily support cell attachment and guide three-dimensional tissue formation. In this study, composite microfiber scaffolds were prepared by electrospinning from polylactic acid (PLA)-calcium phosphate (CaP) sol blend solutions with various concentrations of CaP sol. The resulting composite microfibers exhibited three-dimensionally interconnected microporous structures, which mimicked the natural bone ECM. Although the average diameter of fibers was slightly decreased by the addition of CaP sol, the contact angles were markedly reduced from 107 degrees to 70 degrees. The results of cell viability tests demonstrated that PLCP15 containing 15 wt% of CaP promoted more rapid MC3T3-E1 proliferation compared with other composite microfibers. Moreover, PLCP15 effectively upregulated osteoblastic differentiation.