Biomimetic 3D hydroxyapatite architectures with interconnected pores based on electrospun biaxially orientated PCL nanofibers

Abstract

We report here a facile strategy to fabricate three-dimensional (3D) hydroxyapatite (HA) architectures with well-defined long continuous interconnected pores by using electrospinning and biomimetic mineralization. To this end, a polymeric nanofiber (NF) scaffold with well-defined architecture was fabricated by electrospinning, and bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2) was then adsorbed onto the chemically modified NFs through bio-conjugation. The 3D nanoporous HA architecture was finally fabricated by biomimetic mineralization of the NF–BMP2 hybrid in simulated body fluids and subsequent dissolution of NFs in hexafluoroisopropanol. The formation of NF–BMP2 hybrid was identified by confocal laser scanning microscopy analysis. The crystal structure of HA crystals formed on NFs was examined by X-ray diffraction. The chemical composition and interconnected porous structure of the created 3D HA architectures were measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy, respectively. This bottom-up strategy based on electrospinning and biomimetic mineralization opens up a new way to prepare diverse porous HA-based hybrid materials and shows great potential in drug delivery, gene transfer and tissue engineering.