Aligned carbon nanofibers-guided bone regeneration and orthopedic applications: A pilot study

Abstract

In the present study, we fabricated electroconductive aligned carbon nanofibers (CNFs) as the nanofibers-guided bone regeneration scaffold. The CNFs were obtained from electrospun polyacrylonitrile nanofibers through two steps heat treatment. Aligned nanofibers were fabricated at high drum speed (2400 rpm). The fabricated CNFs were characterized regarding the morphology, crystallinity, carbon structure, wettability, electrical conductivity, hemocompatibility, cytocompatibility, and cell morphology. The results showed that the nanofibers obtained at 2400 rpm drum speed were aligned and electrical conductivity was dependent on the direction of conductivity measurement. The highest electrical conductivity (3.92 0.09 S.cm−1) was obtained at the measuring direction of that parallel to the axis of CNFs. The in vitro studies confirmed that the CNFs induced negligible hemolysis, indicating the hemocompatibility of CNFs. The cell viability assessment showed the biocompatibility of CNFs. The cell SEM images showed that MG-63 cells (an osteoblast-like cell line) were grown at a direction that parallels the axis of aligned CNFs, while the growth on the random CNFs was without a specific pattern. In conclusion, this study indicates that the fabricated aligned CNFs can be considered and the nanofibers-guided bone regeneration scaffold.

Keywords

• Tissue engineering
• Carbon nanofibers
• Electrospinning
• Aligned nanofibers