Investigating The Impact of Alumina on Physical, Mechanical, and Biological Properties of Electrospun PolyHydroxybutyrateKeratin Scaffold Used in Bone Tissue Engineering

Electrospun nanofiber scaffolds have a similar structure to ECM, leading to increased celladhesion, proliferation, and migration. In this study, ۱-۵ wt. % of alumina nanowires wereadded to Polyhydroxybutyrate-Keratin (PHB- K) solution, and the electrospun Morphologyof the scaffolds in terms of fiber diameter, porosity percentage, and the uniformity of thealumina nanowires distribution evaluated by SEM , FTIR and Raman tests were used todetermine the chemical bonds of nanofibers and the presence of alumina and keratin inelectrospun scaffolds. The crystallinity of the scaffolds was also measured using DSC andconfirmed by XRD. Increasing of alumina increased the crystallinity of the scaffolds,because of the effect of alumina as a nucleating agent. The tensile strength of PHB-Kscaffolds increased up to ۳ fold in presence of ۳ wt. % of alumina .The MG۶۳ cellssurvived, and the secretion of alkaline phosphatase and mineralization due to the presenceof alumina was significantly higher than PHB, PHB-K scaffolds. Based on the results, theelectrospun PHB-K/AL۲O۳-based scaffolds are potential candidates for bone tissueengineering.

Keywords:

Electrospinning , Poly-hydroxybutyrate , keratin , Alumina nanowire