مشخصات پژوهش

Piezoelectric materials are of great interest because of their ability to generate electrical signals in response to mechanical strain, which can have a positive impact on the growth, attachment and proliferation of osteoblastic cells. These materials can be used in preparation of bone tissue engineering scaffolds [1, 2]. Poly (vinylidene fluoride), PVDF, a piezoelectric polymer, is widely used in biomaterial applications [3]. In this study, we fabricated tissue engineering scaffolds based on PVDF using two different methods, solvent casting/particulate leaching (SC/PL) method and electrospinning method, and evaluated their morphological properties by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and contact angle measurements. For SC/PL method, PVDF pellets were dissolved in dimethylformamide (DMF) at 15 wt.% under stirring at 60°C and NaCl particles were used as a pore forming agent. Also, the conditions for the preparation of electrospun fibers was evaluated by preliminary experiments and the optimal conditions were obtained as 15% for PVDF solution concentration, 17 cm for distance of the tip of the needle with the collector, an applied voltage of 17 kV and an injection speed of 0.5 ml/h. The results of SEM, showed a granular and porous surface with pore size of 5-10 μm for scaffolds fabricated by SC/PL method, as well as nanofibers with a diameter in the range of 100-500 nm for electrospinning method. In addition, from the contact angle results, the hydrophilicity of the nanofibers was more than the porous scaffold. Finally, it can be stated that scaffolds prepared by electrospinning method have sufficient morphological properties for use in bone tissue engineering.