Improvement of mechanical properties of zein porous scaffold by quenching/electrospun fiber reinforcement. (4th October 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liu, Chang; Yang, Hui; Shen, Nai-An; Li, Juehong; Chen, Yunsu; Wang, Jin-Ye
• Is Part Of: Biomedical materials. Volume 16:Number 6(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-10-04
• Subjects: zein scaffolds -- mechanical properties -- electrospun fiber reinforcement -- quenching treatment -- bone tissue engineering; Biomedical materials -- Periodicals; 610.28
• DOI: 10.1088/1748-605X/ac265d
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1748-6041

Abstract

Abstract: As a novel bone substitute material, zein-based scaffolds (ZS) should have suitable mechanical properties and porosity. ZS has shown good compressive properties matching cancellous bone, but there is still a demand to improve its mechanical properties, especially tensile and bending properties without adding plasticizers. The present study explored two simple and environment-friendly factors for this purpose: fiber reinforcement and quenching. Addition of electrospun zein fibers enhanced all mechanical properties significantly including compressive, tensile, and bending moduli; compressive and bending strengths of ZS with both higher (70–80%) and lower (50–60%) porosities, no matter whether heating treated or not treated. Especially, all these parameters were further enhanced significantly by addition of heating treated fibers. AFM provided evidence that high temperature modification could significantly alter the micro-elastic properties of zein electrospun fibers, i.e., increased stiffness of fibers. Quenching treatment also enhanced compressive, tensile, and bending strengths significantly. Finally, quenching treated ZS were implanted into critical-sized bone defects (15 mm) of the rabbit model to compare the repair efficacy with a commercial β-tricalcium phosphate product. The results demonstrated that there were no remarkable differences in bone reconstructions between these two materials.