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Silk fibroin films for tissue bioengineering applications

C. ZAHARIA1,* , M. –R. TUDORA1, P. O. STANESCU1, E. VASILE2, C. CINCU1

Affiliation

  1. University "Politehnica" of Bucharest, Faculty of Applied Chemistry and Materials Science, Department of Bioresources and Polymer Science
  2. METAV Research Institute, Bucharest, Romania

Abstract

Silks are fibrous proteins with remarkable mechanical properties produced in fiber form by silkworms and spiders. Silk fibers in the form of sutures have been used for centuries. The unique mechanical properties, controlled biodegradability, haemostatic properties of these fibres provided important clinical repair options for many applications. During the past 20 years, some biocompatibility problems have been reported for silkworm silk. Recently regenerated silk solutions have been used to form a variety of biomaterials, such as gels, sponges and films, for biomedical applications. The aim of this study consists in the obtaining of regenerated fibroin films and their modification with different groups for some specific applications. In this respect there were obtained fibroin-polyvinyl alcohol films, fibroin-poly(itaconic acid) films, fibroin-poly(2- acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulphonic acid) films, fibroin-poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-co-itaconic acid) and fibroinpoly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-co-2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulphonic acid) films. The structure of the new biomaterials was evaluated by RAMAN spectroscopy. Contact angle measurements were also performed. Cytotoxicity assays show the good in vitro biocompatibility of the fibroin-based biomaterials. Mineralization assays in SBF1x solution revealed the presence of apatite-like crystals onto the surface of the films of silk fibroin modified with acidic groups. The positive results may lead to the potential use of apatite-coated grafted silk fibroin scaffolds as bone-repairing material (bone tissue bioengineering). The silk fibroin-polyvinyl alcohol films are simply to be obtained and could be used for blood-vessel engineering..

Keywords

Silk fibroin, Polyvinyl alcohol, Acidic groups, Cytotoxicity.

Submitted at: Feb. 8, 2012
Accepted at: Feb. 20, 2012

Citation

C. ZAHARIA, M. –R. TUDORA, P. O. STANESCU, E. VASILE, C. CINCU, Silk fibroin films for tissue bioengineering applications, Journal of Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials Vol. 14, Iss. 1-2, pp. 163-168 (2012)