title: Compliant film of regenerated Antheraea pernyi silk fibroin by chemical crosslinking.
abstract: A compliant film was prepared by chemical crosslinking of fibroin from silk fiber of wild silkworm, Antheraea pernyi. The silk fiber was dissolved in concentrated aqueous lithium thiocyanate and desalinated by dialysis. The film was cast from the regenerated aqueous solution, and crosslinked by polyethylene glycol diglycidyl ether (PEG-DE). This film showed high water resistively while maintaining random coil and alpha-helix structure, unlike films prepared by organic solvent treatment that causes beta-sheet formation. The films containing about 20wt.% crosslinker were remarkably compliant and tenacious. These features, combined with the living-cell affinity of the wild silkworm fibroin, are expected to be useful in biomedical applications.
authors.affiliation: Material Engineering Institute, Suzhou University, Suzhou, PR China. mzli@suda.edu.cn
authors.forename: Mingzhong
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.forename: Shenzhou
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Shigenori
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kuga
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000032:analysis; D000818:Animals; D002152:Calorimetry, Differential Scanning; D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents / Q000737:chemistry*; D005349:Fibroins / Q000737:chemistry*; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D009036:Moths / Q000737:chemistry*; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D047011:Silk; D012995:Solubility; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013718:Tensile Strength; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents; D019476:Insect Proteins; D047011:Silk; D014867:Water; D005349:Fibroins