Nanofeatured silk fibroin membranes for dermal wound healing applications

Abstract

As an effort to create the next generation of improved skin graft materials, in this study, we modified the surfaces of a previously investigated material, silk fibroin, using a NaOH alkaline treatment to obtain a biologically inspired nanofeatured surface morphology. Such surfaces were characterized for roughness, energy, and chemistry. In addition, keratinocyte (skin-forming cells) adhesion and proliferation on such nanofeatured silk fibroin wound dressings were studied in an initial attempt to determine the promotion of an epidermal cover on the wound bed to form a new epidermal barrier. Dermal fibroblast adhesion and proliferation were also studied to assess the ability of nanostructured silk fibroin to replace damaged dermal tissue in chronic wounds (i.e., for diabetic foot ulcers). Results demonstrated for the first time that keratinocyte and fibroblast cell density was greater on nanofeatured silk fibroin membranes compared with non-treated silk fibroin surfaces. The enhancement in cellular functions was correlated with an increase in silk surface nanotopography, wettability and change in chemistry after NaOH treatment. Due to the present promising results, the newly developed nanofeatured silk fibroin membranes are exciting alternative skin graft materials which should be further studied for various skin patch and wound dressing applications.

Flexible silk fibroin films for wound dressing

“…Karahaliloglu et al [18] found that nanofeatured silk fibroin membrane promoted the adhesion and proliferation of fibroblast and keratinocytes. Dalby et al [48] showed that adhesion and proliferation of fibroblast cells depend on size of nanometer islands which was created by a polymer demixing methods.…”

“…A significant reduction (p<0.05) in water contact angle shows that the dextrose modified films has more hydrophilic surface as compared to silk fibroin film. This is important, as scaffolds with hydrophilic surface are better suited for cell adhesion and growth [18,46].…”

“…Silk fibroin/alginate sponge demonstrates a higher healing effect than both components acting alone [17]. Karahaliloglu et al [18] have modified the surface of silk fibroin film to obtain a biologically inspired nano-featured surface morphology, which enhanced the adhesion and proliferation of human epidermal keratinocytes and dermal fibroblasts.…”

Silks as scaffolds for skin reconstruction

“…Alternatively, the fibroin fibers can be solubilized which is usually achieved by treatment with either highly concentrated lithium bromide solution (Gil et al, 2013;Han et al, 2014;Karahaliloglu et al, 2014) or ternary solvent solutions like calcium chloride in diluted ethanol (Fan et al, 2014;Okabayashi et al, 2009;Yan et al, 2013). The latter can solubilize the fibroin by binding Ca 2þ to its tyrosine residues disrupting van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonds (Inpanya et al, 2012).…”

Fabrication of a novel blended membrane with chitosan and silk microfibers for wound healing: characterization, in vitro and in vivo studies

“…To overcome these limitations, blending CS with other materials to fabricate different forms of wound dressings has become an important methodology. [21][22][23] In order to conveniently combine the advantages of CS and SF, previous studies have blended CS with SF solution or lyophilized SF solid to fabricate composite wound dressing materials. [13][14][15] SF has therefore been adopted as materials for biomedical applications such as tissue engineering and drug delivery, [16][17][18][19][20] as well as wound repair.…”