Gelatin/monetite electrospun scaffolds to regenerate bone tissue: Fabrication, characterization, and in-vitro evaluation

This work is dedicated to combining nanotechnology with bone tissue engineering to prepare and characterize electrospun gelatin/monetite nanofibrous scaffold with improved physicochemical, mechanical, and biological properties. Nanofibrous scaffolds possessing fiber diameter in the range of 242-290 nm were prepared after incorporating varying content of monetite nanoparticles up to 7 wt % into the gelatin matrix using the elec-trospinning technique. Cross-linking of gelatin chains in the scaffold was performed using 0.25 wt% glutaral-dehyde as indicated by imine (-C--N-) bond formation in the FTIR analysis. With an increase in monetite addition up to 7 wt%, a decrease in swelling ratio and bio-degradability of cross-linked gelatin scaffolds was observed. Gelatin scaffold with 7 wt% monetite content registered the highest values of tensile strength and tensile modulus of 18.8 MPa and 170 MPa, as compared to 0% and 5 wt% monetite containing scaffolds respectively. Cell viability and differentiation were studied after culturing MG-63 cells onto the scaffolds from confocal microscopy of live and dead cells images, MTT assay, and alkaline phosphatase assay for a cell culture period of up to 21 days. It was observed that 7 wt % monetite containing gelatin scaffold exhibited better MG-63 cell adhesion, proliferation, higher biomineralization, and ALP activity compared to 0% and 5 wt% monetite containing electrospun scaffolds studied here.