Effects of laminated cylindrical scaffolds of keratin/poly(lactic-co- glycolic acid) hybrid film on annulus fibrous tissue regeneration

We developed laminated cylindrical scaffolds composed of poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) and keratin, and investigated their potential for tissue engineering and disk regeneration. The scaffold was designed to have two parts, i.e. inner cylinder and outer disk, to mimic a natural disk. The outer disk was composed of PLGA and the inner cylinder was prepared using PLGA film or PLGA/keratin hybrid film. In this study, we investigated the effects of keratin on the growth and proliferation of annulus fibrous (AF) cells in the cylindrical scaffolds. Scaffolds containing PLGA/keratin films showed a significantly higher cell proliferation and expression of collagen I and II than the counterpart with PLGA films. Keratin containing scaffolds also exhibited an excellent mechanical strength, demonstrating that keratin influences the proliferation of annulus fibrous cells. The results provide valuable information on PLGA/keratin films for tissue engineered disk regeneration.