Mineralization of calcium phosphate induced by a silk fibroin film under different biological conditions

Silk fibroin is a promising biomaterial that has been used for tissue engineering applications. However, the influence of silk fibroin on the mineralization of calcium phosphate in different biological environments has not been discussed before. In this work, we fabricated organized silk fibroin film as the organic framework and amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) deposited on the films as precursors. The transformation pathways and morphology of ACP was then studied in both enzyme and PBS (phosphate buffer saline) solutions. While only hydroxyapatite (HA) crystals formed in enzyme solution, a mixture of tricalcium phosphate (TCP) and HA crystals were obtained in PBS solution, which can be related to the variations of the content of silk fibroin and pH of the solution. Therefore, silk fibroin films can have an important effect on the mineralization process of calcium phosphate in different biological environments. In addition, cell cultivation experiments show that the silk films after mineralization promoted osteogenesis and exhibited good biocompatibility.