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Download fileTunable Biomimetic Hydrogels from Silk Fibroin and Nanocellulose
journal contribution
posted on 2020-02-06, 19:33 authored by Pramod Dorishetty, Rajkamal Balu, Sandya S. Athukoralalage, Tamar L. Greaves, Jitendra Mata, Liliana de Campo, Nabanita Saha, Andrew C. W. Zannettino, Naba K. Dutta, Namita Roy ChoudhuryBiomimetic hydrogels
offer a new platform for hierarchical structure-controlled,
tough, biocompatible, mechanically tunable, and printable gels for
regenerative medicine. Herein, we report for the first time the detailed
effects of various kinds of nanocellulose, namely, bacterial nanocellulose, cellulose nanofibers, and cellulose nanocrystals
on the morphology, structure–property relationship, and 3D
printability of the photochemically cross-linked regenerated silk
fibroin (RSF)/nanocellulose composite hydrogels. The hierarchical
structure of fabricated biomimetic hydrogels was both qualitatively
and quantitatively investigated by scanning electron microscopy and
small/ultrasmall-angle neutron scattering, whereas their mechanical
properties were assessed using rheology, tensile, and indentation
tests. The micropore size and interhydrophobic domain distance of
fabricated hydrogels were tuned in the range of 1.8–9.2 μm
and 4.5–17.7 nm, respectively. The composite hydrogels exhibit
superior viscoelastic, compressive, and tensile mechanical properties
compared to pristine RSF hydrogel, where the shear storage modulus,
compression modulus, young’s modulus, and tensile toughness
were tuned in the range of 0.4–1.4, 1.3–3.6, 2.2–14.0
MPa, and 16.7–108.3 kJ/m3, respectively. Moreover,
the obtained mechanical modulus of the composite hydrogels in terms
of shear, tensile, and compression are comparable to articular cartilage
(0.4–1.6 MPa), native femoral artery (∼9.0 MPa), and
human medial meniscus (∼1.0 MPa) tissues, respectively, which
demonstrate their potential for a wide range of tissue engineering
applications. The whisker form of nanocellulose was observed to enhance
the printability of composite hydrogels, whereas the fiber form enhanced
the overall toughness of the composite hydrogels and promoted the
fibroblast cell attachment, viability, and proliferation. The results
presented here have implications for both fundamental understanding
and potential applications of RSF/nanocellulose composite hydrogels
for 3D-printed scaffolds and tissue engineering.
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Keywords
micropore sizetissue engineeringscanning electron microscopycellulose nanofibersfiber formfibroblast cell attachmenthydrogels exhibittissue engineering applicationsNanocellulose Biomimetic hydrogels offerphotochemically cross-linked regenerated silk fibroinindentation testsshear storage moduluswhisker formMPaRSF hydrogelregenerative medicine3 D-printed scaffolds3 D printabilitycompression modulusSilk Fibroininterhydrophobic domain distanceTunable Biomimetic Hydrogelsbiomimetic hydrogelscellulose nanocrystals