Sonication induced silk fibroin cryogels for tissue engineering applications

In this study, we report a method to form macroporous silk fibroin (SF) scaffolds through a combination of ultrasonication followed by cryogelation at subzero temperatures. The resultant sonication induced SF cryogels encompassed larger pore sizes (151 ± 56 μ m) and higher mechanical stability (127.15 ± 24.71 kPa) than their hydrogel counterparts made at room temperature. Furthermore, the addition of dopants like Manuka honey and bone char in SF cryogels did not affect cryogel synthesis but decreased the pore size in a concentration dependent manner. With no crack propagation at 50% strain and promising stability under cyclic loads, mineralization and cellular infiltration potential were analyzed for bone tissue engineering purposes. Although the scaffolds showed limited mineralization, encouraging cellular infiltration results yield promise for other tissue engineering applications. The use of mild processing conditions, a simplistic procedure, and the lack of organic solvents or chemical cross-linkers renders the combination of sonication and cryogelation as an attractive fabrication technique for 3D SF macroporous scaffolds. (paper)