In this study, metronidazole-load polycaprolactone(PCL) scaffolds with controlled drug delivery were fabricated by electrospinning technique. Nanofibers scaffolds with various contents of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (M) KIT-5 (0 %, 3%, 5 %, and 8 % relative to polymer mass) embedded into the drug-load polycaprolactone were fabricated. The optimum values of the parameters that effect the electrospinning process were obtained by using Taguchi experimental design. The highest content of KIT-5 that couldn’t change optimum condition of electrospinning was 8% relative to polymer mass. The KIT-5 was homogenously hybridized with the metronidazole-load PCL polymer, however, their intrinsic characteristics were preserved. incorporating of KIT-5 to metronidazole-load PCL, resulted exceptional reducing in fibers diameter (445 nm to 365 nm), improving water uptake (%14.18 to %35.6), contact angle (126 0 to 83.9 0 ), improving drug encapsulation efficiency, degradation rate, bioactivity and mechanical properties. Metronidazole released in a controlled manner during 14 days. Thus, controlled release of antibacterial drug can prevent the colonization of anaerobic microorganisms. Cell assessment exposed the potentials of KIT-5 contents to support osteoconductivity of membranes and attachment of MG-63 cells. Moreover, viability assay confirmed that after 7 days of culture, membranes containing of KIT-5, obviously improved cell proliferation by increasing the KIT-5 contents compared to pure PCL membrane. These findings suggest that KIT-5 embedded into drug-load polycaprolactone nanofibers have excellent potential as a scaffold for bone tissue engineering.
