Degradation and mineralization of electroactive poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) electrospun fibers for bone tissue engineering

Abstract

Biocompatible and electroactive polymers are increasingly being required for tissue engineering applications to produce active scaffolds, able to directly influence a specific cellular response. Polymers derived from natural sources with the ability to degrade when implanted are needed in specific cases. Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) fits these requirements, which led to its increasing investigation. For tissue regeneration applications, besides providing an electroactive microenvironment and degradation, the ability of a material to mineralize apatite at their surface is required, as it proves its bioactivity and at the same time enables to mimic bone natural microenvironment. This work reports on the processing of electrospun PHBV fibers with varying overall morphology and fiber diameters. The ability of the developed pristine PHBV fibers to degrade and mineralize are also reported. Bone mineral PHBV fibers with average diameter ranging from 1.2 to 3 μm for the oriented fibers and from 2.5 to 8 μm for the random fibers were obtained, proving their bioactivity by nucleating carbonated hydroxyapatite (CHA). Further, the fibers degrade partially after 60 days in contact with simulated body fluid, proving their suitability for bone tissue engineering.