Novel silk fibroin/elastin wound dressings

Polymers, 2021

Therapeutic dressings to enhance burn wound repair and regeneration are required. Silk fibroin (SF), a natural protein, induces cell migration and serves as a biomaterial in various dressings. SF dressings usually contain α-helices and β-sheets. The former has been confirmed to improve cell proliferation and migration, but the wound healing effect and related mechanisms of β-sheet SF remain unclear. We investigated the effects of β-sheet SF in vivo and in vitro. Alcohol-treated α-helix SF transformed into the β-sheet form, which promoted granulation formation and re-epithelialization when applied as lyophilized SF dressing (LSFD) in a rat burn model. Our in vitro results showed that β-sheet SF increased human dermal fibroblast (HDF) migration and promoted the expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins (fibronectin and type III collagen), matrix metalloproteinase-12, and the cell adhesion molecule, integrin β1, in rat granulation tissue and HDFs. This confirms the role of cros...

Biomolecules

The skin, acting as the outer protection of the human body, is most vulnerable to injury. Wound healing can often be impaired, leading to chronic, hard-to-heal wounds. For this reason, searching for the most effective dressings that can significantly enhance the wound healing process is necessary. In this regard, silk fibroin, a protein derived from silk fibres that has excellent properties, is noteworthy. Silk fibroin is highly biocompatible and biodegradable. It can easily make various dressings, which can be loaded with additional substances to improve healing. Dressings based on silk fibroin have anti-inflammatory, pro-angiogenic properties and significantly accelerate skin wound healing, even compared to commercially available wound dressings. Animal studies confirm the beneficial influence of silk fibroin in wound healing. Clinical research focusing on fibroin dressings is also promising. These properties make silk fibroin a remarkable natural material for creating innovative,...

International Journal of Advanced Research (IJAR), 2019

Silk materials have been shown to promote wound healing since the 1990s. Both fibroin and sericin have been found to be an effective substrate for the proliferation of adherent animal cells and can be used as a substitute for collagen. Because of their excellent physical and biological properties, silk fibroin and sericin were widely investigated for their use in biomedical applications including wound healing materials. Medical wound dressing is a commonly-used treatment for skin defects. Silk fibroin (SF) is a natural protein derived from Bombyxmori cocoons, and shows potential in tissue repair applications due to its excellent biomedical properties. Numerous silk fibroin wound dressings have been developed in the lab, however, lack of large animal studies and clinical trials have hindered their wide use in the clinic. In recent era, the growing field of tissue engineering has introduced remarkable wound dressings based on natural polymers. The unique properties of SF, such as its biocompatibility, biodegradability, high water and oxygen uptake, low immunogenicity, and robust mechanical properties, make it an exceptional choice for wound healing. Despite the successful use of SF in wound dressings, it is not yet approved as an artificial skin. Recently, biomimetic wound dressings were introduced as potential replacements for treating skin injuries. Although there are some clinically available skin replacements, the range of wound types and locations necessitates a broader range of options for the clinic. Natural polymeric-based dressings are of central interest in this area due to their outstanding biocompatibility, biodegradability, low toxicity, and non-allergenic nature. Among them, silk fibroin has exceptional characteristics as a wound dressing. SF-based dressings can also be used as carriers for delivering drugs, growth factors, and bioactive agents to the wound area, while providing appropriate support for complete healing. This dressing is expected to promote good health and wellbeing of masses at an affordable cost. Therefore this is in alignment to UN sustainable development goal (SDG) and can be very effective for smart Kashi initiatives.

Acta Biomaterialia, 2016

Bombyx mori silk fibroin (BMSF) as biopolymer has been extensively explored in wound healing applications. However, limited study is available on the potential of silk fibroin (SF) from non-mulberry (Antheraea assama and Philosamia ricini) silk variety. Herein, we have developed non-mulberry SF (NMSF) based electrospun mats functionalized with epidermal growth factor (EGF) and ciprofloxacin HCl as potential wound dressing. The NMSF based mats exhibited essential properties of wound dressing like biocompatibility, high water retention capacity (440%), water vapor transmission rate ($2330 g m À2 day À1), high elasticity ($2.6 MPa), sustained drug release and antibacterial activity. Functionalized NMSF mats enhanced the proliferation of human dermal fibroblasts and HaCaT cells in vitro as compared to non-functionalized mats (p 6 0.01) showing effective delivery of EGF. Extensive in vivo wound healing assesment demonstrated accelerated wound healing, enhanced reepithelialization, highly vascularized granulation tissue and higher wound maturity as compared to BMSF based mats. NMSF mats treated wounds showed regulated deposition of mature elastin, collagen and reticulin fibers in the extracellular matrix of skin. Presence of skin appendages and isotropic collagen fibers in the regenerated skin also demonstrated scar-less healing and aesthetic wound repair. Statement of Significance A facile fabrication of a ready-to-use bioactive wound dressing capable of concomitantly accelerating the healing process as well as deposition of the extracellular matrix (ECM) to circumvent further scarring complicacies has become a focal point of research. In this backdrop, our present work is based on nonmulberry silk fibroin (NMSF) electrospun antibiotic loaded semi-occlusive mats, mimicking the ECM of skin in terms of morphology, topology, microporous structure and mechanical stiffness. Regulation of ECM deposition and isotropic orientation evinced the potential of the mat as an instructive platform for skin regeneration. The unique peptide motifs of NMSF assisted the augmented recruitment of fibroblast, keratinocytes and endothelial cells leading to accelerated wound healing. Early progression of mature granulation, faster re-epithelialization and angiogenesis in the wounds in in vivo rabbit model forwarded the blended nanofibrous mats of NMSF and PVA ferrying EGF, apt for scarless healing.

International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 2012

In this study, the novel silk fibroin-based bi-layered wound dressing was developed. Wax-coated silk fibroin woven fabric was introduced as a non-adhesive layer while the sponge made of sericin and glutaraldehyde-crosslinked silk fibroin/gelatin was fabricated as a bioactive layer. Wax-coated silk fibroin fabrics showed improved mechanical properties compared with the non-coated fabrics, but less adhesive than the commercial wound dressing mesh. This confirmed by results of peel test on both the partialand full-thickness wounds. The sericin-silk fibroin/gelatin spongy bioactive layers showed homogeneous porous structure and controllable biodegradation depending on the degree of crosslinking. The bi-layered wound dressings supported the attachment and proliferation of L929 mouse fibroblasts, particularly for the silk fibroin/gelatin ratio of 20/80 and 0.02% GA crosslinked. Furthermore, we proved that the bi-layered wound dressings promoted wound healing in full-thickness wounds, comparing with the clinically used wound dressing. The wounds treated with the bi-layered wound dressings showed the greater extent of wound size reduction, epithelialization, and collagen formation. The superior properties of the silk fibroin-based bi-layered wound dressings compared with those of the clinically used wound dressings were less adhesive and had improved biological functions to promote cell activities and wound healing. This novel bi-layered wound dressing should be a good candidate for the healing of full-thickness wounds.

Materials

The use of hybridisation strategy in biomaterials technology provides a powerful synergistic effect as a functional matrix. Silk fibroin (SF) has been widely used for drug delivery, and collagen (Col) resembles the extracellular matrix (ECM). This systematic review was performed to scrutinise the outcome of hybrid Col and SF for cutaneous wound healing. This paper reviewed the progress of related research based on in vitro and in vivo studies and the influence of the physicochemical properties of the hybrid in wound healing. The results indicated the positive outcome of hybridising Col and SF for cutaneous wound healing. The hybridisation of these biomaterials exhibits an excellent moisturising property, perfectly interconnected structure, excellent water absorption and retention capacity, an acceptable range of biodegradability, and synergistic effects in cell viability. The in vitro and in vivo studies clearly showed a promising outcome in the acceleration of cutaneous wound heali...

Research Journal of Textile and Apparel, 2020

Purpose Wound healing is a dynamic process that relies on coordinated signaling molecules to succeed. Silk has proven to be a promising biomaterial for the development of a novel product. The purpose of the study is development of silk films, augmented functionality can be provided to silk by means of loading honey and recombinant human epidermal growth factor (rhEGF). Design/methodology/approach In this research work, the authors set out to explore possibilities of silk-based biomedical device development with particular attention to different fabrication strategies that can be leveraged for this purpose. They have produced a novel silk-based drug delivery material, in the form of silk films. Scanning electronic microscope was used to observe the morphology and the highly specific surface area. The structure was studied by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. This methodology is accomplished using in vivo study data using Wister albonia rats. Findings The developed films also p...

To mimic the natural structure of tissue extracellular matrix, a novel silk fibroin (SF)/hyaluronic acid (HA)/so-dium alginate (SA) composite scaffold (92% in porosity) was prepared by freeze-drying. Fourier-transform infra-red spectroscopy and Raman spectra indicated interactions among SF, HA, and SA molecules. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the prepared SF/HA/SA scaffold had soft, elastic characteristics, with an average pore diameter of 93 μm. Mechanical property, thermogravimetric analyses and degradation results indicated that the SF/ HA/SA scaffold had good physical stability in body fluid and mechanical movement-related environments. Cell proliferation, morphological, and live-dead analyses showed that NIH-3T3 fibroblast cells were better able to attach , grow, and proliferate on the SF/HA/SA scaffold compared with SF, SF/HA, and SF/SA scaffolds. We evaluated the wound healing effects in a rat full-thickness burn model. The hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) and Masson's trichrome staining results from SF/HA/SA scaffold showed that improved re-epithelialization, enhanced extracel-lular matrix remodeling. Our findings showed that the prepared SF/HA/SA scaffold can provide a potential way as a wound dressing for skin repair.

Indo American Journal of Pharmaceutical Research, 2023

The skin is the largest organ of the human body, protecting it from the external environment. Despite their strong self-regeneration capability, severe skin abnormalities do not heal on their own and must be covered with skin substitutes. Silk fibroin has the potential to be used in tissue engineering. We discuss our opinion of its utility as a biomaterial for tissue reconstruction in diverse organs, with a particular emphasis on wound healing. We cover the various methods for preparing regenerated silk fibroin, as well as their benefits and drawbacks, in addition to the key scaffold systems for wound management. We conclude that fibroin is a promising choice for further research due to its strength, structural flexibility, biocompatibility, biodegradability, and potential for modification.

IJCIRAS, 2019

In this study, an effort has been made to develop a ready-to-use bioactive wound dressing material using natural silk fibroin biomaterial functionalized with drugs and PRP.The flexible silk films were prepared by incorporating 3% dextrose (w/w) in the silk films which acted as a plasticizer. The dextrose modified silk films showed higher water holding capacity than the normal silk films. After evaluating the results of the comparative study done in between the silk films and the dextrose modified silk films, it was found that the flexibility as well as the hydrophilicity of silk fibroin films increased upon the addition of dextrose. Additionally, two more types of dextrose modified films were prepared, the PRP coated dextrose modified films and the drug coated dextrose modified films. The films were microscopically examined for detecting cytotoxicity and the results showed that the films were not toxic. An in-vivo wound healing test on mice models indicated that the PRP coated and the drug coated films resulted in a good wound recovery effect, similar to a commercial wound dressing material. The increased hydrophilicity of these films along with the combined results of drugs and PRP have balanced the moist environment at the wound site, which improved the wound healing compared with the other types of films. This systematic approach to wound healing biomaterial wound dressings may demonstrate a useful strategy to select formulations for further study towards new treatment options for chronic wounds in the future.