Water‐insoluble amorphous silk fibroin scaffolds from aqueous solutions

Abstract

Regenerated silk fibroin (RSF) is emerging as promising biomaterial for regeneration, drug delivery and optical devices, with continued demand for mild, all‐aqueous processes to control microstructure and the performance. Here, temperature control of assembly kinetics was introduced to prepare the water‐insoluble scaffolds from neutral aqueous solutions of RSF protein. Higher temperatures were used to accelerate the assembly rate of the silk fibroin protein chains in aqueous solution and during the lyophilization process, resulting in water‐insoluble scaffold formation. The scaffolds were mainly composed of amorphous states of the silk fibroin chains, endowing softer mechanical properties. These scaffolds also showed nanofibrous structures, improved cell proliferation in vitro and enhanced neovascularization and tissue regeneration in vivo than previously reported silk fibroin scaffolds. These results suggest utility of silk scaffolds in soft tissue regeneration.

Silk Nanofiber Carriers for Both Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic Drugs to Achieve Improved Combination Chemotherapy

“…The drug-laden hydrogels remained intact without significant weight loss in PBS solution for 28 days, confirming stability (Figure 4b,c). Similar to other silk-based materials, [37,45,46] these drug-laden hydrogels degraded gradually in protease XIV solution (Figure 4b,c). The subcutaneous implantation in mice also exhibited gradual degradation in vivo, which was beneficial to sustained drug release and also for cell internalization of the materials (Figure 4d).…”

Stretchable and Heat‐Resistant Protein‐Based Electronic Skin for Human Thermoregulation

“…Silk, a natural biomaterial, has been exploited to design into various forms, including fibers, hydrogel, films, and scaffolds 10–12. In particular, silk fibroins (SF) molecules, extracted from Bombyx mori silkworms, can be utilized to prepare self‐assembled membranes 13.…”

Processing Strategies to Obtain Highly Porous Silk Fibroin Structures with Tailored Microstructure and Molecular Characteristics and Their Applicability in Water Remediation

“…Further, the plasticization level of crystalline structures, represents a certain variability of crystalline spacing and consequently it is common to observe a slight displacement of diffraction peaks among samples [43,44]. >28 o are commonly related with silk I structures [45], while the presence of peaks at 20-21 o and 24-25 o is ascribed to highly packed silk II conformations [45,46]. The apparent lack of silk III representative maxima suggests that the used processing methods do not promote these structures, mainly ascribed to water-air interfaces.…”