Background: Silk fibroin is a suitable protein for osteogenesis by inducing markers of bone formation in the cultures of osteoblasts, so we examined the ability of this protein to induce mineralized nodules in the rat bone marrow stromal cell cultures. Methods: Bone marrow stromal cells obtained from 4 to 6 weeks old Spruge-Dawely male rats were grown in primary culture for seven days and then ...

background: silk fibroin is a suitable protein for osteogenesis by inducing markers of bone formation in the cultures of osteoblasts, so we examined the ability of this protein to induce mineralized nodules in the rat bone marrow stromal cell cultures. methods: bone marrow stromal cells obtained from 4 to 6 weeks old spruge-dawely male rats were grown in primary culture for seven days and then ...

Transgenic silkworm technology has enabled the biological properties of silk fibroin protein to be altered by fusion to recombinant bioactive proteins. However, few studies have reported the fabrication of genetically modified fibroin proteins into three-dimensional spongy structures to serve as scaffolds for tissue engineering. We generated a transgenic silkworm strain that produces fibroin fu...

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are considered to be ideal multifunctional materials for biorelated applications, but there is still some controversy regarding their toxicity. In addition, the poor dispersibility of MWCNTs in either water or organic solvents has limited their practical applications. Therefore, obtaining a good dispersion is one of the key issues in their applications. In ...

We investigate the linear and nonlinear viscoelastic properties as well as the reversibility of strain-stiffening behavior of silk fibroin gels. The gels are prepared from 4.2w/v% fibroin solution in the presence of butanediol diglycidyl ether and N,N,N',N'-tetramethylethylenediamine (TEMED) as a cross-linker and catalyst, respectively. By changing the concentration of TEMED in the gelation sys...

Bombyx mori silk fibroin membranes provide a potential delivery vehicle for both cells and extracellular matrix (ECM) components into diseased or injured tissues. We have previously demonstrated the feasibility of growing retinal pigment epithelial cells (RPE) on fibroin membranes with the view to repairing the retina of patients afflicted with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The goal o...

Establishing an appropriate degradation rate is critical for tissue engineering scaffolds. In this study, the degradation rate of silk fibroin threedimensional scaffolds was regulated by changing the molecular weight (MW) of the silk fibroin. The solubility of silk fibroin depends primarily on the ionic ability of the slovent to dissolve silk fibroin, therefore, we regulated the MW of the silk ...

Silk-based medical products have a long history of use as a material for surgical sutures because of their desirable mechanical properties. However, silk fibroin fabric has been reported to be haemolytic when in direct contact with blood. The layer-by-layer self-assembly technique provides a method for surface modification to improve the biocompatibility of silk fibroin fabrics. Regenerated sil...

Introduction: In vitro generation of articular cartilage tissues requires a large number of cells maintaining the chondrogenic phenotype during in vitro culture. Our previous studies showed that chondrocytes cultured in/on a silk fibroin sponge could proliferate with maintaining their phenotype [1] and exhibited a maximum value of the adhesive stress, which could not seen when using a glass sub...

Silk fibers have many inherent properties that are suitable for their use in biomaterials. In this study, the silk fibroin was genetically modified by including a Ca-binding sequence, [(AGSGAG)6ASEYDYDDDSDDDDEWD]2 from shell nacreous matrix protein. It can be produced as fibers by transgenic silkworm. The Ca-binding activity and mineralization of the transgenic silk fibroin were examined in vit...