Figure 4.

Two types of silk/hydroxyapatite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering

(A) Schematic of the preparation of the silk fibroin/nHAP scaffold loading with dual growth factors of BMP-2 and VEGF (B + V scaffold).

(B) SEM images of i) control scaffold (without growth factor) and ii) B + V scaffold, scale bars are 100 and 20 μm.

(C) SEM images of cell adhesion on i) control scaffold and ii) B + V scaffold, scale bar is 10 μm.

(D) μCT images of the newly formed bone at 12 weeks post implantation with i) control scaffold and ii) B + V scaffold.

(E) Blood vessel analysis of the specimen of critical-sized calvarial defects at 12 weeks post implantation with i) control scaffold and ii) B + V scaffold. The red arrows show the typical brown, round or oval structures, which indicate the presence of blood vessels. A–E, adapted with permission from Wang et al. (2017). Copyright 2017, the Royal Society of Chemistry.

(F) i) Microcomputed tomography of a 3D-printed cube showing the general aspect of the cube (top right), regular filament distribution, and interconnected pores; ii) 3D-printed anatomical structures: femur (left), vertebra (right, top), and mandible (right, bottom). Adapted with permission from Fitzpatrick et al. (2021). Copyright 2021, Elsevier.