Preparation and properties of polylactic acid/nano-hydroxyapatite/silk fibroin guided bone regeneration membranes

Objective To prepare and characterize a novel nano-scale fibrous polylactic acid/nano-hydroxyapatite/silk fibroin (PLLA/n-HA/SF) composite membranes, for purpose of evaluating the feasibility of the composite membranes as the barrier membrane of guided bone regeneration (GBR).Methods The PLLA/n-HA/SF composite membrane was prepared by thermally induced phase separation in this research, and was tested on characterization by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The porosity of the PLLA/n-HA/SF composite membrane was calculated. Results The composite membranes had three dimensional porous structure with nano-fibrous matrices, and had good uniformity with regular diameter of 160~320 nm and pore size of 1-4 μm. The FTIR results showed that the experimental group had the characteristic peak of polylactic acid, nano-hydroxyapatite and silk fibroin, indicating the binding force among the three materials was strong. The composite membranes also had high porosity (92%). Conclusion The PLLA/n-HA/SF composite membranes prepared in this study has favorable structure and exhibits nice porosity, providing the basis of further research for guided bone regeneration membranes.