Microspheres of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and silk fibroin are produced by applying ultrasound in a biphasic system consisting of an aqueous protein solution and an organic solvent. The protein microspheres are dispersed in an aqueous media where the protein remains at the interface covering the organic solvent. This only occurs when high shear forces are applied that induce changes to force t...

Silk fiber has gained its importance in the field of tissue engineering due to its excellent mechanical and biocompatible properties. The properties of silk fiber can be engineered for its suitable use in tissue engineering by its regeneration in the form of films or fibers. This review paper summarizes current research related to regeneration techniques for silk fiber preparation, characterist...

The 3'-terminal nucleotide sequence of fibroin mRNA has been determined. A cDNA transcript primed by oligo(dT) hybridized to the poly(A) segment of fibroin mRNA was used to determine the sequence immediately adjacent to poly(A). A specific primer complementary to this sequence then allowed synthesis of 5'-terminally homogeneous transcripts amenable to analysis by rapid sequencing methods. The 3...

2. If tryptic hydrolysis is carried out in a medium containing 6 % of lithium thiocyanate no precipitation occurs, and the hydrolysate may be acidified and dialysed to give a solution of peptides of high molecular weight. 3. Further hydrolysis of this fraction with chymotrypsin shows that it consists predominantly of long sequences of amino acid residues throughout which glycyl residues alterna...

Glycyland alanyl-tRNA synthetases have been purified from an extract of Bombyx mori posterior silk glands by a procedure that allows for the simultaneous isolation of both enzymes. Glycyl-tRNA synthetase is a dimer of M, = 160,000 consisting of similar or identical subunits, whereas alanyl-tRNA synthetase is a monomer of M, = 110,000 to 116,000. The abundance of these two enzymes in the posteri...

The objective of the present study is to investigate the possibility of preparing pure protein microspheres from regenerated silk fibroin (RSF). It is found that RSF microspheres, with predictable and controllable sizes ranging from 0.2 to 1.5 mm, can be prepared via mild selfassembling of silk fibroin molecular chains. The merits of this novel method include a rather simple production apparatu...

Silk fibroin (SF) is a typical fibrous protein that is secreted by silkworms and spiders. It has been used in a variety of areas, and especially for tissue-engineering scaffolds, due to its sound processability, mechanical properties, biodegradability, and biocompatibility. With respect to gelation, the SF gelation time is long in aqueous solutions, so a novel approach is needed to shorten this...

Silk is made up of two types of proteinssilk fibroin and sericin. Silk sericin is the main residue (≈2030%) in raw silk fiber. It is composed of 18 amino acids. Solubility, molecular weight, and gelling properties of sericin depends on the methods of isolation i.e. degumming. Sericin has proved itself as a highly potential biomaterial by wide variety of applications in medicine, pharmaceuticals...

In this study, the synthesis of silk fibroin (SF) hydrogel via chemical cross-linking reactions of SF due to gamma-ray (γ-ray) irradiation was investigated, as were the resultant hydrogel's properties. Two different hydrogels were investigated: physically cross-linked SF hydrogel and chemically cross-linked SF hydrogel irradiated at different doses of γ-rays. The effects of the irradiation dose...

The unique properties of silk fibroin were combined with keratin to develop new wound-dressing materials. Silk fibroin/keratin (SF/K) films were prepared to reduce high levels of elastase found on chronic wounds. This improved biological function was achieved by the incorporation of a small peptide synthesized based on the reactive-site loop of the Bowman-Birk Inhibitor (BBI) protein. In vitro ...