Cocoon silks are composed of two silk proteins: sericin and fibroin. Fibroin is a semi crystalline polymer of natural fibrous protein mainly consisting of highly β-sheet crystals and noncrystalline part (micro voids and amorphous structures). Sericin is amorphous acting as an adhesive binder to maintain the fine filaments of fibroin core and the overall structural integrity of cocoon [1]. Silk ...

The outstanding properties of spider dragline silk are likely to be determined by a combination of the primary sequences and the secondary structure of the silk proteins. Antheraea pernyi silk has more similar sequences to spider dragline silk than the silk from its domestic counterpart, Bombyx mori. This makes it much potential as a resource for biospinning spider dragline silk. This paper fur...

Biomedical application of silk requires the removal of sericin that is the gumming material of native silk fibers. This is because sericin can elicit an adverse immune response after implantation in the human body. However, the removal of sericin causes the silk fiber to fray and weakens its structural property, making it very difficult to knit or braid them into a scaffold for ligament tissue ...

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...

Major ampullate (MA) dragline silk supports spider orb webs, combining strength and extensibility in the toughest biomaterial. MA silk evolved ~376 MYA and identifying how evolutionary changes in proteins influenced silk mechanics is crucial for biomimetics, but is hindered by high spinning plasticity. We use supercontraction to remove that variation and characterize MA silk across the spider p...

Introduction Scaffolds fabricated from silk have shown good osteoinduction. However, the mechanical properties were insufficient to match native bone. We previously investigated the effects of mineral incorporation (by coating as well as embedding into the silk phase) as a method to enhance mechanical properties of porous silk scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. Based on encouraging results ...

Since thousands of years humans have utilized insect silks for their own benefit and comfort. The most famous example is the use of reeled silkworm silk from Bombyx mori to produce textiles. In contrast, despite the more promising properties of their silk, spiders have not been domesticated for large-scale or even industrial applications, since farming the spiders is not commercially viable due...

Spider capture silk is a natural material that outperforms almost any synthetic material in its combination of strength and elasticity. The structure of this remarkable material is still largely unknown, because spider-silk proteins have not been crystallized. Capture silk is the sticky spiral in the webs of orb-weaving spiders. Here we are investigating specifically the capture spiral threads ...

Emerging line research showed that silk nanoparticles (NPs) have toxicity on the fibroblastand Huvec cells without any toxicity recognized mechanisms. Recently, it suggested peripheralarterial disease confounds almost eight million Americans. Also, due to the main effect offibroblast in a production of extracellular matrix (ECM), adhesive molecules, glycoproteinsand various cytokines, it decide...