Abstract

In this study, electrospun polylactic acid (PLA) nanofibers were coated with osteoinductive Laponite (LAP) nanoplatelets and used as scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. The LAP nanoplatelets were physically crosslinked with high molecular weight polyethylene oxide (PEO) to make a layer of LAP/PEO network around PLA nanofibers with a thickness of 45–175 nm that was controllable through adjusting the concentration of the LAP/PEO solution (0.4, 0.8, and 1.2 wt%). The LAP/PEO layer improved the surface hydrophilicity (water contact angle from 111° to 26°) and thus the cell attachment and proliferation (p ≤ 0.05) by the scaffolds. The LAP nanoplatelets coated on the surface of PLA nanofibers could induce osteodifferentiation on human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) by increasing the ALKALINE PHOSPHATASE (ALP) activity. The expression of specific osteogenic genes (ALP and OSTEONECTIN) at the transcription level (p ≤ 0.001) for the seeded hMSCs proved the osteoinductive effect of coated LAP nanoplatelets for the differentiation of stem cells to osteoblasts without using any external osteogenic inducers. The LAP-coated nanofibers can be used as an excellent scaffold for bone tissue engineering to provide an appropriate environment for direct bone tissue engineering.