Effect of Silk Fibroin Content on the Bionic Mineralization and In Vitro Cellular Compatibility of Silk Fibroin/Hydroxyapaptite Nanocomposites

Silk fibroin and hydroxyapatite nanocomposites (SF/HA) with various SF content were prepared. Effect of Silk fibroin content on the bionic mineralization and cellular compatibility in vitro of HA nanocrystals (n-HA) was investigated. The results show that SF content has an obvious effect on the nucleation and growth of n-HA. However, though SF content does not show obvious difference on the nucleation and growth of n-HA, it has obvi- ous effect on the n-HA aggregation. When SF content is less than 20wt%, n-HA orderly disperses in SF matrix. While the SF content is more than 20wt%, the n-HA aggregation becomes disordered. The in vitro cellular compati- bility experiments demonstrate that the SF/HA composites exhibit better cell affinity than pure n-HA. However, SF content has no obvious effect on the cell affinity of n-SF/HA 20wt% SF/HA and 30wt% SF/HA show better os- teoblast proliferation.