Development of Electrospun Nanofibrous Scaffold for Corneal Tissue Regeneration

Abstract

Introduction Corneal disorders are the fifth leading cause of blindness across the globe. Most of these health issues can be recovered with corneal transplantations. But transplantation comes with two major disadvantages: shortage of donor corneas and graft rejections. In an attempt to solve the limitations of graftable corneas, significant progress is being made in the fabrication of biological corneal substitutes developed through tissue engineering and intended to resemble their in vivo environment in regards to the cellular phenotype and architecture of tissues. The majority of these substitutes involve the usage of biomaterials that mimic the extracellular matrix of native corneal tissues. Silk fibroin and gelatin polymers were used for the development of electrospun nanofibrous scaffold suitable for corneal epithelial tissue. Methodology Silk fibroin (SF) solution was extracted from B. mori cocoons using the conventional degumming process and combined with gelatin (GE) in various proportions which was electrospun to develop polymeric matrix. A number of physicochemical studies (e.g. morphological analysis, transparency, hydrophobillicity, mechanical testing, etc.,) and in vitro studies (e.g. MTT, live dead, cell attachment and ROS) were performed to determine the optimum composition of the SF/GE scaffold. Result and Conclusion The electrospun scaffolds obtained uniform, bead-free morphology when characterized under scanning electron microscope. The nanofibrous mats exhibited the required corneal transparency thereby mimicking the corneal tissue architecture and properties. The hydrophilicity of the scaffolds was analyzed using contact angle measurements and water uptake studies which inferred that the presence of silk fibroin along with gelatin increased the overall wettability of scaffolds making it a suitable substrate for cell attachment and growth. The studies revealed that the scaffolds have optimal transparency, superior tensile strength, and adequate cellular biocompatibility. As a result, we anticipate that the engineered scaffold will be an excellent construct for corneal tissue engineering