We developed a facile and quick ethanol-based method for preparing silk nanoparticles and then fabricated a biodegradable and biocompatible dual-drug release system based on silk nanoparticles and the molecular networks of silk hydrogels. Model drugs incorporated in the silk nanoparticles and silk hydrogels showed fast and constant release, respectively, indicating successful dual-drug release from silk hydrogel containing silk nanoparticles. The release behaviors achieved by this dual-drug release system suggest to be regulated by physical properties (e.g., β-sheet contents and size of the silk nanoparticles and network size of the silk hydrogels), which is an important advantage for biomedical applications. The present silk-based system for dual-drug release also demonstrated no significant cytotoxicity against human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs), and thus, this silk-based dual-drug release system has potential as a versatile and useful new platform of polymeric materials for various types of dual delivery of bioactive molecules.
A new method is developed to prepare silk hydrogels and silk-pectin hydrogels via dialysis against methanol to obtain hydrogels with high concentrations of silk fibroin. The relationship between the mechanical and biological properties and the structure of the silk-pectin hydrogels is subsequently evaluated. The present results suggest that pectin associates with silk molecules when the silk concentration exceeds 15 wt%, suggesting that a silk concentration of over 15 wt% is critical to construct interacting silk-pectin networks. The silkpectin hydrogel reported here is composed of a heterogeneous network, which is different from fiberreinforced, interpenetrated networks and double-network hydrogels, as well as high-stiffness hydrogels (elastic modulus of 4.7 AE 0.9 MPa, elastic stress limit of 3.9 AE 0.1 MPa, and elastic strain limit of 48.4 AE 0.5%) with regard to biocompatibility and biodegradability.
Back Cover: A new method is developed by K. Numata and co‐workers to prepare silk hydrogels and silk‐pectin hydrogels via dialysis against methanol to obtain hydrogels with high concentrations of silk fibroin. http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/mabi.201300482, the relationship between the mechanical and biological properties and the structure of the silk‐pectin hydrogels is subsequently evaluated. The silk‐pectin hydrogel is composed of a heterogeneous network, which is different from fiber‐reinforced, interpenetrated networks and doublenetwork hydrogels, as well as high‐stiffness hydrogels, with regard to biocompatibility and biodegradability.
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