Ultrasonication-Induced Rapid Gelation of Wild Silkworm Silk Fibroins

Silk fibroin （SF） hydrogels of the wild silkworm species Antheraea pernyi and Antheraea yamamai were obtained from aqueous SF solutions at room temperature. Both A. pernyi and A. yamamai solutions were slow to gelate. Hydrogels of the two species of wild silkworm were obtained rapidly following ultrasonicaton at 400–500 W. The secondary structure of the freeze-dried SF hydrogels was measured by X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Ultrasonication did not change the main secondary structure of the hydrogels, but it accelerated the structural transformation of silk fibroin molecules from random coil or α helix to β sheet and reduced the gelation time.

[1]  Christian Mühlfeld,et al.  Silk protein fibroin from Antheraea mylitta for cardiac tissue engineering. , 2012, Biomaterials.

[2]  Qiang Zhang,et al.  Enzymatic degradation of Antheraea pernyi silk fibroin 3D scaffolds and fibers. , 2011, International journal of biological macromolecules.

[3]  M. Li,et al.  Effects of Gamma Irradiation on the Structure and Mechanical Properties of Wild Silkworms and Bombyx Mori Silk Fibroin Films , 2011 .

[4]  Min Li,et al.  In vitro and in vivo research on using Antheraea pernyi silk fibroin as tissue engineering tendon scaffolds , 2009 .

[5]  David L Kaplan,et al.  Sonication-induced gelation of silk fibroin for cell encapsulation. , 2008, Biomaterials.

[6]  J. Kopeček.  Hydrogel biomaterials: a smart future? , 2007, Biomaterials.

[7]  Mingzhong Li,et al.  Structure and properties of regenerated Antheraea pernyi silk fibroin in aqueous solution. , 2007, International journal of biological macromolecules.

[8]  M Fini,et al.  The healing of confined critical size cancellous defects in the presence of silk fibroin hydrogel. , 2005, Biomaterials.

[9]  David L Kaplan,et al.  The inflammatory responses to silk films in vitro and in vivo. , 2005, Biomaterials.

[10]  A. Motta,et al.  Fibroin hydrogels for biomedical applications: preparation, characterization and in vitro cell culture studies , 2004, Journal of biomaterials science. Polymer edition.

[11]  G. Somorjai,et al.  Surface mechanical properties of pHEMA contact lenses: viscoelastic and adhesive property changes on exposure to controlled humidity. , 2003, Journal of biomedical materials research. Part A.

[12]  David L Kaplan,et al.  Silk-based biomaterials. , 2003, Biomaterials.

[13]  Shenzhou Lu,et al.  Study on porous silk fibroin materials. I. Fine structure of freeze dried silk fibroin , 2001 .

[14]  M B McCarthy,et al.  Functionalized silk-based biomaterials for bone formation. , 2001, Journal of biomedical materials research.

[15]  K. Hirabayashi,et al.  Quantitative structural analysis and physical properties of silk fibroin hydrogels , 1994 .

[16]  K. Hirabayashi,et al.  GELATION OF SILK FIBROIN , 1990 .

[17]  T. Asakura,et al.  The structure of Bombyx mori silk fibroin membrane swollen by water studied with ESR, 13C-NMR, and FT-IR spectroscopies , 1990 .

[18]  M. Tsukada,et al.  Physico-chemical properties of silk fibroin membrane as a biomaterial. , 1990, Biomaterials.