title: Gelatin modified ultrathin silk fibroin films for enhanced proliferation of cells.
abstract: Silk fibroin (SF) films were modified with gelatin (G) to explore if such SF/G films could enhance the surface biocompatibility of silk as cell growth biomaterials. Ultrathin films were coated from aqueous SF solutions pre-mixed with different amounts of G. It was found that the SF/G blended films after methanol treatment were highly stable in physiological conditions. The incorporation of G smoothed the surface morphology of the SF/G films formed. Surface-exposed RGD sequences were successfully identified on the SF/G films through specific recognition of an integrin-mimicking peptide (bearing the sequence of CWDDGWLC). Cell culture experiments with 3T3 fibroblasts demonstrated that SF/G films with 1.2-20% (w/w) G gave clear improvement in promoting cell attachment and proliferation over pure SF films. Films containing 10-20% (w/w) of G showed cell attachment and growth even superior to the pure G films. The differences as observed from this study suggest that due to the lack of mechanical strength associated with its high solubility, G could not work alone as a cell growth scaffold. The enhanced cellular responses from the blended SF/G films must result from improvement in film stability arising from SF and in cytocompatibility arising from G. The results thus indicate the potential of the SF/G blends in tissue engineering and biomedical engineering where physical and biological properties could be manipulated via mixing either as bulk biomaterials or for coating purposes.
authors.affiliation: Biological Physics Laboratory, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Schuster Building, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.
authors.forename: Luyuan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Mohammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yaseen
authors.forename: Xiubo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Coffey
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Yuming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Hai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Webster
authors.forename: Jian R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002470:Cell Survival; D003460:Crystallization; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology; D005349:Fibroins / Q000737:chemistry*; D005780:Gelatin / Q000737:chemistry*; D008422:Materials Testing; D051379:Mice; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D041681:NIH 3T3 Cells; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000737:chemistry; D047011:Silk / Q000737:chemistry*; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013499:Surface Properties; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D009842:Oligopeptides; D047011:Silk; C047981:arginyl-glycyl-aspartic acid; D005780:Gelatin; D005349:Fibroins