Highly Absorbent Silk Fibroin Protein Xerogel

Abstract

Highly absorbent polymers have a wide range of applications in biomaterials, agriculture, physiological products of daily uses, and others. Silk fibroin, as a natural biomaterial with excellent biocompatibility and tunable mechanical properties, shows good prospects in the field of biomedicine applications. However, the dried fibroin hydrogel has very low absorbency. In this work, silk fibroin protein is used as the carrier, riboflavin as the photosensitizer, and accordingly, the hydrogel is prepared by free radical cross-linking under ultraviolet light. The fibroin in the hydrogel contains mainly the random coil structure. The covalent bond cross-linking hinders the crystallization of the silk fibroin, thereby an amorphous silk fibroin hydrogel is obtained. After drying, this xerogel can absorb water 90 times more than its own mass and assimilates a good amount of water within a minute. In vitro and in vivo rabbit ear hemostasis experiments show that this fabricated xerogel has good hemostatic properties. Therefore, this xerogel exhibits good promise for rapid hemostasis of wounds and absorbing other body exudates.

Insights into the Role of Biopolymer-Based Xerogels in Biomedical Applications

“…The addition of this much nanocellulose in the polymeric matrix increased the brittleness of the xerogels, which is the main cause of xerogel fracture. Silk fibroin-based xerogels possess great water absorption capacity, and Cheng et al [ 23 ] reported that their xerogels were able to absorb up to 90 times its own mass of water within a minute in addition to its great hemostatic properties, making such material suitable for absorbing other body exudates. Several attempts have been made to produce aerogel-like xerogels under ambient conditions to minimize the shrinkage.…”

“…Biopolymeric xerogels are porous networks of many unique and desirable properties that have been widely studied for different biomedical applications including controlled and sustained drug delivery, wound dressing and healing applications, tissue engineering scaffolds, and other applications [ 23 ]. Owing to the biocompatibility, non-cytotoxicity, and non-immunogenicity of the biopolymers, biopolymeric xerogels are considered to be a safer option than inorganic and synthetic materials in medical applications [ 1 , 59 ].…”

“…The intermediate porosity of xerogels is highly preferable in sustained drug release; the high porosity of aerogels may lead to fast drug release, which is not desirable in some cases, such as cancer drug therapy [ 19 , 20 ]. Several research papers have been recently published regarding the fabrication and characterization of biopolymeric xerogels for different medical and biomedical applications [ 21 , 22 , 23 ], which are increasing by the day. However, to the best of our knowledge, a limited number of review papers on the applications of biopolymeric xerogels in biomedical applications have been published [ 24 , 25 ].…”

Characterization and Fabrication of Xerogel Polymeric Nanocomposites and Multifunctional Applications

“…Biopolymeric X-G are porous architectures of varying peculiar and enchanting properties that undergone versatile studies for versatile biomedical uses such as manipulatable and sustained drug conveyance, wound dressing as well as repairing uses, tissue engineering scaffolds, and so on [43]. As a result of their biocompatibility, zero-cytotoxicity, and nil-immunogenicity, biopolymeric X-G are perceived to be safer in comparison with inorganic as well as synthetic substrates for medical uses [42][43][44].…”

Silk Fibroin Based Formulations as Potential Hemostatic Agents

“…reported the platelet-mediated blood coagulation cascade of silk scaffolds (mulberry and non-mulberry) to provide a new direction related to post-implant complications . In a recent study, Cheng et al demonstrated the hemostatic properties of silk fibroin xerogels prepared by free-radical cross-linking (generated by riboflavin) under ultraviolet light . Additionally, several reports also suggested that silk fibroin blended with other polymers ( e.g ., polyethylene glycol (PEG) and alginate) or bioactive molecules (yolk-shell particles and plant derived nanocellulose particles) showed an enhanced hemostatic efficiency. − …”