Electrospinning of PLA/pearl powder nanofibrous scaffold for bone tissue engineering

Pearl powder is a natural composite of CaCO3 and organic matter, which is a promising biomaterial for bone tissue engineering. In the present work, pearl powder incorporated polylactic (PLA) nanofibrous scaffold fabricated via electrospinning process to improve the weak biocompatibility and mineralization ability of PLA, was used as support for deposition of hydroxyapatite (HA) and supporting cell culture. Then, the as-prepared scaffolds were well characterized by several assays. Morphology observations showed that pearl powder can homogeneously distribute on the surfaces of nanofibers, and appreciably better hydrophilicity was obtained on a PLA/pearl scaffold than PLA. After a mineralization process, HA particles successfully deposited on the nanofiber, which fully covered the surfaces of PLA/pearl nanofibers, whereas coverage seemed only partial on pristine PLA. An in vitro test illustrated higher cell proliferation and better adhesion morphology of MC3T3s that appeared on the PLA/pearl nanofibrous scaffold. Therefore, electrospinning a PLA/pearl nanofibrous scaffold has superior properties to pristine PLA, and shows potential application in bone tissue engineering.