Electrospun silk fibroin scaffolds coated with reduced graphene promote neurite outgrowth of PC-12 cells under electrical stimulation.

Novel approaches to neural research require biocompatible materials capable to act as electrode structures or scaffolds for tissue engineering in order to stimulate or restore the functionality of damaged tissues. This work offers promising results that indicate the potential use of electrospun silk fibroin (SF) scaffolds coated with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) in this sense. The coated material becomes conductor and electroactive. A complete characterisation of SF/rGO scaffolds is provided in terms of electrochemistry, mechanical behaviour and chemical conformation of fibroin. The excellent biocompatibility of this novel material is proved with cultures of PC-12 cells. The coating with rGO improved the adhesion of cells in comparison with cells growing onto the surface of pure SF scaffolds. Also, the use of SF/rGO scaffolds combined with electrical stimulation promoted the differentiation into neural phenotypes reaching comparable or even superior levels to those obtained by means of the traditional treatment with neural growth factor (NGF).

Fabrication of electrospun silk fibroin scaffolds coated with graphene oxide and reduced graphene for applications in biomedicine.

Silk fibroin and graphene are both promising biomaterials described in the bibliography. Hybrid scaffolds combining their properties could be attractive for tissue engineering applications. In this work, a new methodology to produce electrospun fibroin scaffolds coated with graphene materials is provided. The mechanical, electrical and electrochemical properties of the materials attained were characterised. The fibre diameters were measured (from 3.9 to 5.2 µm). The samples coated with reduced grapheme were electronic conductors and electroactive in liquid electrolytes, showing maximum oxidation and reduction (around−0.4 V peak). The chronoamperometric responses showed a reduction shoulder, pointing to the entrance of balancing cations from the solution by nucleation­relaxation: the reaction induced structural changes in the graphene. In order to check the biocompatibility of the materials, they were seeded with L929 fibroblasts. The excellent biocompatibility of silk fibroin meshes was maintained after coating with graphene, being the proliferation results equal in all the treatments 7 days after the seeding (Tukey, p N 0.05).The conductive and electroactive properties of meshes coated with reduced graphene allow the potential application of local electric fields or local ionic currents to cell cultures, biological interfaces or animal models without host response.