AI Article Synopsis

  • Current 3D silk fibroin scaffold creation methods struggle with unwanted molecular rearrangement, leading to brittleness and poor organization at various scales.
  • A novel process using electrowriting and sodium dihydrogen phosphate allows for controlled gelation and formation of stable structures with both β-sheet and random coil conformations, while achieving customizable architectures.
  • The resulting scaffolds support the growth and alignment of renal epithelial and endothelial cells, promoting healthy tissue development, which shows promise for future tissue engineering applications.

Article Abstract

Despite extensive research, current methods for creating three-dimensional (3D) silk fibroin (SF) scaffolds lack control over molecular rearrangement, particularly in the formation of β-sheet nanocrystals that severely embrittle SF, as well as hierarchical fiber organization at both micro- and macroscale. Here, we introduce a fabrication process based on electrowriting of aqueous SF solutions followed by post-processing using an aqueous solution of sodium dihydrogen phosphate (NaHPO). This approach enables gelation of SF chains controlled β-sheet formation and partial conservation of compliant random coil structures. Moreover, this process allows for precise architecture control in microfiber scaffolds, enabling the creation of 3D flat and tubular macro-geometries with square-based and crosshatch microarchitectures, featuring inter-fiber distances of 400 μm and ∼97% open porosity. Remarkably, the crosslinked printed structures demonstrated a balanced coexistence of β-sheet and random coil conformations, which is uncommon for organic solvent-based crosslinking methods. This synergy of printing and post-processing yielded stable scaffolds with high compliance (modulus = 0.5-15 MPa) and the ability to support elastic cyclic loading up to 20% deformation. Furthermore, the printed constructs supported adherence and growth of human renal epithelial and endothelial cells with viability above 95%. These cells formed homogeneous monolayers that aligned with the fiber direction and deposited type-IV collagen as a specific marker of healthy extracellular matrix, indicating that both cell types attach, proliferate, and organize their own microenvironment within the SF scaffolds. These findings represent a significant development in fabricating organized stable SF scaffolds with unique microfiber structures and mechanical and biological properties that make them highly promising for tissue engineering applications.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11372760PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/d4bm00624kDOI Listing

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