Silk fibroin (SF) has made major contribution to the development of a rich variety of tissue-engineered scaffolds, mainly owing to its low cost, good biocompatibility, and proper biodegradability. However, scaffold of pure SF shows poor performance in terms of the mechanical strength, especially when they are constructed to a three-dimensional (3D), porous structure for bulk tissue regeneration. Herein, we report the fabrication of a typical class of 3D porous sponges made of SF, which are mechanically reinforced by integrating with a silk nonwoven fabric. It was found that the silk fibers in the fabric were closely bonded with SF inside the matrix sponge post freeze-drying, which significantly increased the compressive and tensile stress relative to the case of pure SF sponge. We then took fibroblasts (L929) as a model cell to investigate the 3D cell growth inside the scaffold. The cell viability, proliferation, and infiltration were noticeably improved when the silk nonwoven fabric was integrated into the SF sponge. Taken together, this class of mechanical-reinforced, 3D composite scaffolds hold great potential in the regeneration of bulk tissues and related applications.

丝素蛋白（SF）对多种组织工程支架的开发做出了重大贡献，这主要是由于其成本低，生物相容性好和可生物降解性强。然而，纯SF的支架在机械强度方面显示出较差的性能，尤其是当它们被构建为三维（3D）多孔结构以进行大量组织再生时。在此，我们报告了由SF制成的一类典型的3D多孔海绵的制造过程，这些海绵通过与丝绸无纺布整合而得到机械增强。结果发现，冷冻干燥后，织物中的丝纤维与SF紧密粘合在基质海绵内部，与纯SF海绵相比，显着增加了压缩应力和拉伸应力。然后，我们以成纤维细胞（L929）作为模型细胞来研究支架内3D细胞的生长。将真丝无纺布整合到SF海绵中后，细胞活力，增殖和浸润显着改善。综上所述，这类机械增强的3D复合支架在散装组织的再生和相关应用中具有巨大的潜力。