Fabrication of fibrinogen/P(LLA-CL) hybrid nanofibrous scaffold for potential soft tissue engineering applications.

Coelectrospinning of native proteins and elastic synthetic polymers is an attractive technique to fabricate hybrid fibrous scaffolds that combine the bioactivity and mechanical features of each material component. In this study, hybrid fibrous scaffolds composed of synthetic P(LLA-CL) elastomeric and naturally derived fibrinogen protein were fabricated and characterized for their bioactive and physiochemical properties. Fiber diameters of hybrid scaffolds increased with increasing P(LLA-CL) content, and the shape of fibers changed from cylindrical shape on pure polymer scaffolds to flat structure on hybrid scaffolds. Characterizations of ATR-FTIR, XRD, and thermal properties indicated that the hybrid scaffolds contain two different phases, one composed of pure fibrinogen and the other corresponding to a mixture of fibrinogen and P(LLA-CL), and no obvious chemical reaction takes place between two components. The hybrid fibrous scaffolds showed tailorable degradation rates than pure P(LLA-CL) and higher mechanical properties than pure fibrinogen, and both tensile strength and breaking strain increased with increasing P(LLA-CL) content. In Vitro studies revealed that L929 cells on hybrid scaffolds achieved relatively higher level of cell attachment after 12 h of culture and significant increased cell proliferation rate after 7 days of culture, when compared with pure fibrinogen and P(LLA-CL) scaffolds, and the cells exhibited a spreading polygonal shape on the hybrid fibrous surfaces compared to a round shape on surfaces of pure polymer scaffolds. Therefore, the fibrinogen/P(LLA-CL) hybrid fibrous scaffolds possess the combined benefits of each individual component, which make it capable as scaffolds for soft tissue reconstruction.