Bioresorbable Scaffolds Based on Fibroin for Bone Tissue Regeneration

Using the tissue-engineered constructs based on scaffolds that imitate the extracellular matrix of living tissues unveils new opportunities in the treatment of various pathologies and injuries associated with tissue and organ damage. Silk fibroin of silkworm Bombyx mori is a biocompatible and bioresorbable polymer with high mechanical strength and elasticity that allows creating scaffolds on its basis for regeneration of various tissues, including bone. In the present work, fibroin scaffolds were obtained. They were designed in the form of porous sponges, films, and hybrid scaffolds of a bilayer structure in which the porous sponge threedimensional structure is limited on one side by a film. The structure of the scaffolds and their biocompatibility were studied: immortalized and primary fibroblasts, as well as the osteoblast-like cells, have been shown to successfully adhere and proliferate on the surface of the studied scaffolds. Numerous osteogenesis foci have been observed in the implant region 4 weeks after the fibroin porous scaffold implantation in the in vivo experiments in a rat femoral bone defect model indicating the osteoconduction of the scaffolds. © 2017, Allerton Press, Inc.