High-throughput electrospinning of bioactive scaffolds for bone regeneration

The main objective of this work is to develop a high-throughput electrospinning method for production of hybrid (organic-inorganic) and bioactive scaffolds needed for bone regeneration. The work involved the comparison between the low-throughput and high-throughput systems and their feasibility towards bone regeneration application. For this reason, variety of formulations starting from the low-throughput system have been tested. The approach has been gradually improved to the high-throughput system. Then the bioactive scaffolds were developed using the w/o emulsion electrospinning. Emulsions were tested for the stability and systematically adjusted to define the most suitable formulation. Adjustments were done by different concentrations of hydrophilic and hydrophobic non-ionic surfactants as well as water phase components including polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). After setting up emulsion electrospinning process electrospun samples have been characterized by different methods including: scanning electron microscopy (SEM), confocal laser scanning microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Based on the characterization results selected samples doped with different fluorophores have been additionally checked for the release tests. Our result suggest that the release of the bioactive molecules can be controlled by addition of the optimized ratio of polymers to the water phase. Moreover, metabolic activity tests have been performed demonstrating its potential use for cell proliferation.