Hierarchical Structure And Biological Properties Of Crucian Carp Fish Scales

Scaffold is required to provide an environment for cell growth and metabolism,gas exchange and rubbish excretion etc. as a three dimensional matrix for the growthof cells and tissue in tissue engineering. The scaffold is material foundation for theformation of new tissue and organ which has specific morphology and function.As a kind of aquatic waste, fish scale has an extensive sources and low cost.However, it is a potential biomaterial because fish scale has a special structure withabundant effective constituent including collagen and hydroxyapatite. Based on this,the study focuses on curcian carp fish scales and hierarchically analyzes its majorcomponent and structure. The fish scales of crucian carp contain58.2wt%organicmatrix and29.5wt%nano hydroxyapatite. Meanwhile with comprehensive analysis offish scale samples treated in different ways, we model the five hierarchical structuresof crucian carp fish scales and further analysis the relations between its structure andfunction.In addition, the fish scales still remain its structure but contains only collagenafter special treatment. The treated fish scales are used in cell experiment and in vitrosimulated body fluid (SBF) mineralization. The72h mineralization results can provethat the fish scale has good bioactivity with original SBF. On the other hand, the invitro cell experiment results indicate that the number of cells increase logarithmically.The results show that the treated fish scales can promote cell proliferation. It stillremains the original patterned feature of fish scale, which promotes the spreading andmigration of cells along the fish scale ridge channels. This indicates that the originalstructure on the surface of fish scale will guide the spreading and migration of cells.The results of cell experiment and in vitro SBF mineralization indicate the bioactivityand cytocompatibility of fish scales, which provide proofs for further study andapplication of fish scales in tissue engineering.