Fabrication and characterization of curcumin-loaded silk fibroin/P(LLA-CL) nanofibrous scaffold

Curcumin exhibited excellent properties including antioxidant, antiinflammatory, antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, and anticoagulant activities. In this study, curcumin was incorporated into silk fibroin (SF)/poly(L-lactic acid-co-e-caprolactone) (P(LLA-CL)) nanofibrous scaffolds via electrospinning, and changes brought about by raising the curcumin content were observed: SEM images showed that the average nanofibrous diameter decreased at the beginning and then increased, and the nanofibers became uniform; FTIR showed that the conformation of SF transforming from random coil form to β-sheet structure had not been induced, while SF conformation converted to β-sheet after being treated with 75% ethanol vapor; XRD results confirmed that the crystal structure of (P(LLA-CL)) had been destroyed; The mechanical test illustrated that nanofibrous scaffolds still maintained good mechanical properties. Further, curcumin-loaded nanofibrous scaffolds were evaluated for drug release, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities in vitro. The results showed that curcumin presented a sustained release behavior from nanofibrous scaffolds and maintained its free radical scavenging ability, and such scaffolds could effectively inhibit S. aureus growth (> 95%). Thus, curcumin-loaded SF/P(LLA-CL) nanofibrous scaffolds might be potential candidates for wound dressing and tissue engineering scaffolds.