Silkworm, Bombyx mori (B. mori) belongs to the Lepidoptera family. The silk produced from this insect, mulberry silk, gained lot of importance as a fabric. Silk is being exploited as a biomaterial due to its surprising strength and biocompatibility. Polyamines (PA) are important cell growth regulators. In the present work the effect of treatment of polyamines, putrescine (Put), spermidine (Spd), and spermine (Spm) on the quantity and quality of silk produced was assessed. Results showed that exogenous feeding of Spd at a concentration of 50 µM increased fiber length significantly. Analysis by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) on the properties of silk obtained from Spd treated silkworms revealed an increase in percentage of absorption with no difference in peak positions of amide I and amide III groups. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed an increase in diameter of silk. Further, analysis at molecular level showed an increase in fibroin expression in Spd treated silk glands. However, the Spd treatment showed no significant difference with respect to fibroin to sericin ratio per unit weight of cocoon, silk tenacity, and percent elongation. Thus, the present results show that polyamine treatment would influence silk quality at structural, mechanical, and molecular level in the Bombyx mori, which can be exploited in silk biomaterial production.
Silk fibroin (SF), which is a protein‐based biomacromolecule, proved to be an important biomaterial in biomedical applications and tissue engineering. The present study mainly focused to investigate the effective antibiotic against the common pathogens found at the site of burn wounds. The SF films prepared with selected antibiotics had shown activity against the target bacterial pathogens, but no activity was found against fungal species. The release of antibiotics from films resulted in the microbial susceptibility. Results have shown Ciprofloxacin—6 μg, Amoxicillin—15 μg, and Nystatin—70 μg at minimal inhibition concentration (MIC) has shown maximum zone of inhibition when compared with other antibiotics. The antibiotic‐based silk fibroin (ABSF) films have shown a positive effect on cell viability and cell adhesion on the L929 fibroblast cell line. The structural conformations of films were also carried out by FTIR and XRD, an increase in the crystalline size was observed in the antibiotic‐based film. Results demonstrate that ABSF films can act against the pathogens without losing their drug nature, can reduce the chance of infections at the site of the wound, and also can establish the basis for the accelerated healing process of the burn wound.
Silk fibroin, is a structural and protein‐based biomacromolecule produced from Bombyx mori silkworm. Silk fibroin has been widely being used for biomedical and biomaterial applications, tissue engineering, and drug delivery since a decade. The present study mainly focused to investigate the wound healing efficiency of the developed silk fibroin‐based extracellular electrospun nanofibrous matrix. Electrospun nanofibers were developed by blending the silk fibroin solution with antibiotics (Ciprofloxacin, Amoxicillin, and Nystatin) and polyvinyl alcohol. Results have shown that the developed extracellular matrix has antimicrobial sensitivity activity against the pathogens which causes infection by forming pus at the site of burn wounds. The cell adhesion and cell viability studies have shown a positive effect on L929 fibroblast cell lines. The morphological studies were carried out on SEM. The structural conformations of the developmental matrix were carried out on XRD. The wound healing efficiency of the developed matrix was checked by using a rat model. The results exhibited a dose dependent healing efficiency. The present results demonstrate the developed silk fibroin extracellular matrix promotes cell proliferation and helps in wound healing by controlled release of the antibiotics without losing their chemical properties.
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