AccScience Publishing / IJB / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/IJB025140118
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Early Access

A dural strategy for 3D-printed SilMA hydrogels modification: Nanofiber reinforcement and PEO-induced porosity

Bingxue Xv1† Xin An1† Ning Zhou1 Wenxin Meng1 Yvmeng Luo1 Guomin Wu1*
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1 College & Hospital of Stomatology, Anhui Medical University, Key Lab. of Oral Diseases Research of Anhui Province, Hefei, 230032, China
†These authors contributed equally to this work.
Received: 1 April 2025 | Accepted: 19 May 2025 | Published online: 19 May 2025
© 2025 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

Hydrogels have emerged as promising scaffolds for cartilage tissue engineering due to their structural mimicry of native articular cartilage extracellular matrix. However, conventional hydrogels typically exhibit only nanoscale porosity and poor mechanical properties, which limit nutrient delivery, metabolic waste exchange, and structural fidelity. To address these challenges, we developed an innovative cell-laden porous methacrylated silk fibroin (SilMA) hydrogel system with biomechanical reinforcement through 3D bioprinting strategy. The porous architecture was created through a water-in-water emulsification strategy employing poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) as a sacrificial template. This pore-forming process resulted in remarkable structural modulation, achieving over 100% increase in average pore diameter and 75% enhancement in overall porosity compared to hydrogels without PEO application. However, this structural modification compromised the compressive modulus by approximately 50%. Therefore, homogenized electrospun silk fibroin nanofibers (NFs) were incorporated into the bioink to implement the mechanical properties and optimize surface topography. The introduction of NFs (1-2 wt%) not only recovered the compressive strength and modulus (near to SilMA hydrogels) but also improved the 3D printability PEO/SilMA hydrogels. Additionally, the hydrogel demonstrated excellent biocompatibility and markedly upregulated chondrogenic-related gene expression, including Collagen IIAggrecan, and Sox9. Furthermore, the subcutaneous implantation experiments in NOD/SCID rats further confirmed the potential of PEO/NFs/SilMA hydrogels in promoting cartilage formation. Therefore, this study proposes a promising dual-strategy approach for cartilage tissue engineering, integrating NFs reinforcement and PEO-induced porosity.

Keywords
3D bioprinting
SilMA
PEO
electrospun nanofiber
cartilage regeneration
Funding
This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82201034), and partially funded by Hefei Municipal Natural Science Foundation (No. 202348), Anhui Medical University Enhancement Program for Basic and Clinical Collaborative Research (No. 2022xkjT017), Anhui Provincial Institute of Translational Medicine Research Fund Project (No. 2021zhyx-C69), Anhui Medical University Graduate Research and Practice Innovation Program (No. YJS20230160).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare they have no competing interests.
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International Journal of Bioprinting, Electronic ISSN: 2424-8002 Print ISSN: 2424-7723, Published by AccScience Publishing