As a novel bone substitute material, zein-based scaffolds (ZS) should have suitable mechanical properties and porosity. ZS has shown good compressive properties matching cancellous bone, but there is still a demand to improve its mechanical properties, especially tensile and bending properties without adding plasticizers. The present study explored two simple and environment-friendly factors for this purpose: fiber reinforcement and quenching. Addition of electrospun zein fibers enhanced all mechanical properties significantly including compressive, tensile, and bending moduli; compressive and bending strengths of ZS with both higher (70–80%) and lower (50–60%) porosities, no matter whether heating treated or not treated. Especially, all these parameters were further enhanced significantly by addition of heating treated fibers. AFM provided evidence that high temperature modification could significantly alter the micro-elastic properties of zein electrospun fibers, i.e., increased stiffness of fibers. Quenching treatment also enhanced compressive, tensile, and bending strengths significantly. Finally, quenching treated ZS were implanted into critical-sized bone defects (15 mm) of the rabbit model to compare the repair efficacy with a commercial β-tricalcium phosphate product. The results demonstrated that there were no remarkable differences in bone reconstructions between these two materials.

作为一种新型的骨替代材料，玉米醇溶蛋白基支架（ZS）应具有合适的机械性能和孔隙率。ZS 已表现出与松质骨相匹配的良好压缩性能，但仍需要在不添加增塑剂的情况下改善其机械性能，特别是拉伸和弯曲性能。本研究为此目的探索了两个简单且环保的因素：纤维增强和淬火。添加电纺玉米醇溶蛋白纤维显着增强了所有机械性能，包括压缩、拉伸和弯曲模量；ZS 的抗压和弯曲强度具有较高 (70-80%) 和较低 (50-60%) 的孔隙率，无论是否经过热处理。特别是，通过添加热处理纤维，所有这些参数都进一步显着提高。AFM 提供的证据表明，高温改性可以显着改变玉米醇溶蛋白电纺纤维的微弹性特性，即增加纤维的刚度。淬火处理还显着提高了压缩、拉伸和弯曲强度。最后，将淬火处理过的 ZS 植入兔模型的临界尺寸骨缺损 (15 mm) 中，以比较修复效果与商业 β-磷酸三钙产品。结果表明，这两种材料在骨重建方面没有显着差异。将淬火处理过的 ZS 植入兔模型的临界大小的骨缺损（15 毫米）中，以比较与商业 β-磷酸三钙产品的修复效果。结果表明，这两种材料在骨重建方面没有显着差异。将淬火处理过的 ZS 植入兔模型的临界大小的骨缺损（15 毫米）中，以比较与商业 β-磷酸三钙产品的修复效果。结果表明，这两种材料在骨重建方面没有显着差异。