Multilayer Electrospinning of PCL and PVA: NaAlg Nanofibres for Bone Tissue Engineering

Development of polymeric nanofibrous scaffolds has achieved wide applications in the field of tissue engineering by electrospinning technique. In order to further improvise this technique for bone tissue regeneration, multilayered nanofibrous scaffolds were fabricated in the present study. The hybrid composite scaffolds comprised of hydrophobic polycaprolactone (PCL) and hydrophilic blend of poly(vinyl alcohol):sodium alginate (P:S) nanofibres in a layer-by-layer pattern in order to incorporate the selective properties of different polymers in a single scaffold. The stability of these multilayered scaffolds was further improved by crosslinking with 5% CaCl₂. The properties of neat PCL scaffold was compared with the multilayered PCL/P:S, PCL/P:S/PCL and crosslinked PCL/P:S and PCL/P:S/PCL scaffolds. The physicochemical properties of the developed scaffolds were systematically studied. Morphological and structural characteristics measured by scanning electron microscopy revealed uniform nanofibres thereby forming a porous mesh like structure suitable for cell growth. The effect of multilayer deposition of nanofibres was observed in terms of increase in rate of water absorption and a slower rate degradation for PCL/P:S and PCL/P:S/PCL scaffolds respectively. Improved mechanical properties were also observed for triple layered PCL/P:S/PCL hybrid scaffold as obtained by mechanical testing. MG-63 bone osteosarcoma cells were employed to determine the biocompatibility of the multilayered scaffolds, wherein none of the scaffolds possessed any cytotoxic effect, and cell proliferation of >90% was clearly observed for multilayered scaffolds. Based on these results the developed multilayered scaffolds were proved to be suitable for bone tissue regeneration.