Soya protein isolate-polyethylene oxide electrospun nanofiber membrane with bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell for enhanced bone regeneration

Abstract

In this study, we prepared an electrospun nanofiber membrane from soya protein isolate (SPI) and polyethylene oxide (PEO) loaded with rat bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (rBMSC), as a cell-scaffold approach to enhance bone regeneration. Different ratios of SPI:PEO (7:0, 7:1, 7:3, 7:5, and 0:7) was investigated to obtain uniform nanofibers, and crosslinked with EDC/NHS to stabilize the membranes. SPI/PEO membrane (7:3) was found to create more uniform and stable nanofibers at a flow rate of 9 mu L/min, spun in a cylindrical collector rotating at 350 r/min, 23 kV DC voltage, and needle tip to collector distance of 13 cm. The loaded rBMSC were pre-differentiated to ensure commitment towards osteoblastic lineage. The SPI/PEO electrospun nanofiber membranes were successful in allowing for cell attachment and growth of the rBMSC and was further investigated in vivo using a rat skull defect model. New bone formation was observed for the optimized SPI/PEO electrospun nanofiber membrane (7:3) with and without rBMSC, but with faster new bone formation for SPI/PEO electrospun nanofiber membrane loaded with rBMSC as compared to SPI/PEO electrospun nanofiber membrane only and control (defect only).