Acellular Bioactivity of Sol-Gel Derived Borate Glass-Polycaprolactone Electrospun Scaffolds

Abstract Recently, sol-gel derived borate glasses (BGs) have shown unprecedented conversion rates to bone-like mineral (hydroxycarbonated apatite). In an effort to explore their potential applications in bone tissue engineering, this study reports on the fabrication and characterization of BG particle incorporated electrospun "- polycaprolactone (PCL) fibrous composites. The electrospinning technique successfully incorporated PCL fibres with BG particles at 2.5 and 5 w/v%, with the higher BG loading creating a three-dimensional cotton-wool like morphology. Dynamic vapour sorption showed greater extents of mass change with BG content attributable to water sorption, and indicating greater reactivity in the composite systems. In vitro bioactivity was investigated in simulated body fluid for up to 7 days. Scanning electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and xray diffraction indicated apatite formation in the 5 w/v% incorporated composite scaffold, which initiated as early as day 3. In summary, sol-gel derived BGs incorporatedfibrous electrospun PCL composites indicate rapid reactivity and bioactivity with potential applications in mineralized tissue engineering.