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Silk: An Explorable Biopolymer in the Biomedical Arena
Published in Neha Kanwar Rawat, Tatiana G. Volova, A. K. Haghi, Applied Biopolymer Technology and Bioplastics, 2021
Athira John, Ananthu Prasad, Neha Kanvvar Rawat
Drug delivery is the method of administering a medicated compound to achieve a therapeutic effect in the body. The controlled release of the drugs is at the target size is a major concern in treatment. The literature reports numerous applications of silk proteins to have in delivering drugs at a controlled rate. The prominent processes like Gelation, microparticle, freeze-drying, electrospinning, electrospraying, etc. are the primary techniques explored in this area [11].
Natural Polymers as Components of Blends for Biomedical Applications
Published in Severian Dumitriu, Valentin Popa, Polymeric Biomaterials, 2020
Silk fibroin produced by the domesticated Bombyx mori silkworm has been used as a raw material for decades. Natural fibroin is comprised of repeat sequences of alanine and glycine that readily form the β-sheet crystals responsible for the mechanical properties of silk. Natural (and also synthetic) silks’ elasticity and strength make them important candidates for application in synthetic bone, ligament, and cartilage. Pure fibroin is biocompatible, can degrade slowly in vivo, supports attachment and proliferation of many cells, and supports osteoblastic differentiation. Silk fibroin can be processed into films and scaffolds to improve tissue regeneration in skin, nerve, bone, and cartilage. Blending the natural fibroin with the less expensive synthetic polymers is one approach to reduce the cost of materials. The surface of silk fibroin is usually improved when silk-based materials are used as blood-contacting materials, such as introducing heparin into them. In tissue engineering recently a big amount of silk is used.
Manufacturing and Assembly of Micro- and Nanoscale Devices and Interfaces Using Silk Proteins
Published in Hyun Jung Kim, Biomimetic Microengineering, 2020
Silks have an abundant history as materials for biomanufacturing. Before the “micro-” and “nano-”manufacturing technology has been developed, silk proteins have been used mostly in their natural forms, i.e., fibers and tissues produced by animals, for millennia. In the last a few decades—given the advances in science and technology and the increasing desire for finding materials to interface with no harm to cells and to different tissues in the human bodies—silks have also found wide application in biomedical fields, including wound healing, drug delivery, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine. Silk proteins possess the advantages of mechanical strength, non-toxicity, biodegradation, support of cells growth, and differentiation and biomimetism (Altman et al. 2003) that are difficult to find in synthetic materials and that enable the use of silks in many “biocompatible systems” (Williams 2014). Silk protein-based biomedical devices have been fabricated using materials both in their natural forms (e.g. silk fiber-made ligament grafts) or in reprocessed formats, including hydrogels, films, and nanofibers (Rockwood et al. 2011).
Regenerated silk fibroin loaded with natural additives: a sustainable approach towards health care
Published in Journal of Biomaterials Science, Polymer Edition, 2023
Niranjana Jaya Prakash, Xungai Wang, Balasubramanian Kandasubramanian
Similar to the case with the delivery of small drug molecules, silk fibroin formulations can be used for the delivery of biological drugs also. These formulations can include various forms of silk, such as microspheres, loaded with drug molecules like glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor or SF blends with other biopolymers. It has been seen that alginate and PLGA microsphere encapsulated in silk fibroin coatings can be used to deliver BSA conjugated with tetramethyl-rhodamine and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) for 16 and 30 days, respectively [118]. In the case of drug delivery by degradation mechanism using silk-based materials, it was observed that the kinetics of drug release was highly dependent on the composition of the material. In the case of silk composites with polyacrylamide and gelatin, it was able to increase the drug release duration to 45 and 28 days, respectively, by altering the ratio of composition of materials. By embedding compounds such as calcium alginate-SF beads, BSA- and FITC-inulin- loaded calcium alginate, or PLGA microspheres loaded with IGF-1-, more complex drug delivery systems could be developed [61]. Owing to the crystallinity of SF, the burst release of drug molecules from the microspheres is prevented, and it ensures prolonged release. So, in such systems, the silk fibroin also acts as a barrier of diffusion to a certain extent.
Fabrication of neuroprotective silk-sericin hydrogel: potential neuronal carrier for the treatment and care of ischemic stroke
Published in Journal of Experimental Nanoscience, 2022
The cocoon silks spun by the domestic silkworm Bombyx mori have been used in textiles for thousands of years (at least 5000 years). Silk has long been a vital textile stock due to its unique feel, luster, dyeability, tensile strength and elasticity, good thermal stability, hygroscopic nature and microbial resistance. For almost two decades, the regenerated liquid silk fibroin (SF) solution has been extensively applied to the research and development of various forms of biomaterials, such as drug/enzyme delivery systems, regenerated fibres, artificial skin, porous matrix or 3D scaffolds, biomimetic nanofibrous scaffolds, and a platform for transistors, and various classes of photonic devices, due to its biocompatibility. Extraction of the sericin protein from the 140-cocoon silk (Department of Neurology, Wenling First People's Hospital, Wenling-317500, China) using the LiBr (6 M LiBr aqueous solution (55 mL) extraction procedure described earlier [51–53]. Afterwards, the mixture was centrifuged to remove any remaining sericin solution and for another 30 min at room temperature to create the Gen-SH. After a range of sericin-to-genipin ratios and reaction periods were tested, the 6:1 sericin:genipin ratio and the 30 min cross-linking reaction time were identified [54–56].
Bioinks—materials used in printing cells in designed 3D forms
Published in Journal of Biomaterials Science, Polymer Edition, 2021
Dilara Goksu Tamay, Nesrin Hasirci
Silk-based scaffolds are commonly used in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering due to their high biocompatibility and cell proliferation properties [136–138]. The molecular organization, that activate aggregation of silk fibroin transition between random coils of β-sheet by using methanol is an important property that allows silk fibroin to be used for 3D-printing. In one study, fibroin bioink which was methacrylated was used for digital light processing (DLP) 3D bioprinting and it was shown that highly complex organ structures such as heart, vessel, brain, trachea and ear could be printed with proper structural stability [139]. Combination of SF with polysaccharides, such as chitosan, alginate, and hyaluronic acid, can be used to adjust its rheological properties, such as the gelation rate and printability [140]. Das et al. prepared encapsulated human nasal inferior turbinate tissue-derived mesenchymal progenitor cells into silk fibroin-gelatin (SF-G) bioink and printed clinically relevant sized tissue analogs [141].