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Materials
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Development and Application of Silk-Proteins Based Biomaterials
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Development and Application of Silk-Proteins Based Biomaterials

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Biomaterials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 April 2023) | Viewed by 13950

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Federica Paladini

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Salento, Via per Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Interests: bioengineering; tissue engineering; silk/protein-based biomaterials; surface functionalization; antimicrobial nanocoatings
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Mauro Pollini

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Salento, Via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Interests: tissue engineering; bioengineering; antibacterial treatments; silver; fibroin; sericin; nanocoatings
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Silk is an interesting biomaterial mainly composed of two proteins, namely, fibroin and sericin, characterized by excellent biological and physical–chemical properties that can be properly exploited to develop advanced materials and devices for a wide range of technological applications. Over the last decade, these proteins have received huge attention by academic research, which has explored the multiple options for processing and the incredible potential of fibroin and sericin for the development of different products with specific properties. However, although many interesting studies have been already published, more research is still needed for investigating the increasing number of applications of fibroin and sericin, particularly for tissue engineering. This Special Issue aims at exploring the most recent progresses in the development of silk proteins-based biomaterials for application in bioengineering and biotechnology, with special attention to regenerative medicine, drug delivery and wound healing. It is our pleasure to invite you to contribute full papers, review article and communication for this Special Issue.

Dr. Federica Paladini
Dr. Mauro Pollini
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • silk
  • fibroin
  • sericin
  • bioengineering
  • tissue engineering
  • drug delivery
  • biomedicine

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 3222 KiB  
Article
Sustained Delivery of the Antiviral Protein Griffithsin and Its Adhesion to a Biological Surface by a Silk Fibroin Scaffold
by Wenyan Guan, Ning Zhang, Arjan Bains, Airam Martinez and Patricia J. LiWang
Materials 2023, 16(16), 5547; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16165547 - 9 Aug 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1859
Abstract
The protein Griffithsin (Grft) is a lectin that tightly binds to high-mannose glycosylation sites on viral surfaces. This property allows Grft to potently inhibit many viruses, including HIV-1. The major route of HIV infection is through sexual activity, so an important tool for [...] Read more.
The protein Griffithsin (Grft) is a lectin that tightly binds to high-mannose glycosylation sites on viral surfaces. This property allows Grft to potently inhibit many viruses, including HIV-1. The major route of HIV infection is through sexual activity, so an important tool for reducing the risk of infection would be a film that could be inserted vaginally or rectally to inhibit transmission of the virus. We have previously shown that silk fibroin can encapsulate, stabilize, and release various antiviral proteins, including Grft. However, for broad utility as a prevention method, it would be useful for an insertable film to adhere to the mucosal surface so that it remains for several days or weeks to provide longer-term protection from infection. We show here that silk fibroin can be formulated with adhesive properties using the nontoxic polymer hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) and glycerol, and that the resulting silk scaffold can both adhere to biological surfaces and release Grft over the course of at least one week. This work advances the possible use of silk fibroin as an anti-viral insertable device to prevent infection by sexually transmitted viruses, including HIV-1. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development and Application of Silk-Proteins Based Biomaterials)
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10 pages, 1250 KiB  
Article
Injectable Click Fibroin Bioadhesive Derived from Spider Silk for Accelerating Wound Closure and Healing Bone Fracture
by Woong-Jin Lee, Kyoungjoo Cho, Aaron-Youngjae Kim and Gyung-Whan Kim
Materials 2022, 15(15), 5269; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15155269 - 30 Jul 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2561
Abstract
Wound closure is a critical step in postoperative wound recovery. Substantial advancements have been made in many different means of facilitating wound closure, including the use of tissue adhesives. Compared to conventional methods, such as suturing, tissue bioadhesives better accelerate wound closure. However, [...] Read more.
Wound closure is a critical step in postoperative wound recovery. Substantial advancements have been made in many different means of facilitating wound closure, including the use of tissue adhesives. Compared to conventional methods, such as suturing, tissue bioadhesives better accelerate wound closure. However, several existing tissue adhesives suffer from cytotoxicity, inadequate tissue adhesive strength, and high costs. In this study, a series of bioadhesives was produced using non-swellable spider silk-derived silk fibroin protein and an outer layer of swellable polyethylene glycol and tannic acid. The gelation time of the spider silk-derived silk fibroin protein bioadhesive is less than three minutes and thus can be used during rapid surgical wound closure. By adding polyethylene glycol (PEG) 2000 and tannic acid as co-crosslinking agents to the N-Hydroxysuccinimide (NHS), and 1-Ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide (EDC) reaction, the adhesive strength of the bioadhesive became 2.5 times greater than that of conventional fibrin glue adhesives. Silk fibroin bioadhesives do not show significant cytotoxicity in vitro compared with other bioadhesives. In conclusion, silk fibroin bioadhesive is promising as a new medical tool for more effective and efficient surgical wound closure, particularly in bone fractures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development and Application of Silk-Proteins Based Biomaterials)
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18 pages, 2461 KiB  
Article
Silk Vascular Grafts with Optimized Mechanical Properties for the Repair and Regeneration of Small Caliber Blood Vessels
by Elisa Valsecchi, Marco Biagiotti, Antonio Alessandrino, Dario Gastaldi, Pasquale Vena and Giuliano Freddi
Materials 2022, 15(10), 3735; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15103735 - 23 May 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2704
Abstract
As the incidence of cardiovascular diseases has been growing in recent years, the need for small-diameter vascular grafts is increasing. Considering the limited success of synthetic grafts, vascular tissue engineering/repair/regeneration aim to find novel solutions. Silk fibroin (SF) has been widely investigated for [...] Read more.
As the incidence of cardiovascular diseases has been growing in recent years, the need for small-diameter vascular grafts is increasing. Considering the limited success of synthetic grafts, vascular tissue engineering/repair/regeneration aim to find novel solutions. Silk fibroin (SF) has been widely investigated for the development of vascular grafts, due to its good biocompatibility, tailorable biodegradability, excellent mechanical properties, and minimal inflammatory reactions. In this study, a new generation of three-layered SF vascular scaffolds has been produced and optimized. Four designs of the SILKGraft vascular prosthesis have been developed with the aim of improving kink resistance and mechanical strength, without compromising the compliance with native vessels and the proven biocompatibility. A more compact arrangement of the textile layer allowed for the increase in the mechanical properties along the longitudinal and circumferential directions and the improvement of the compliance value, which approached that reported for the saphenous and umbilical veins. The higher braid density slightly affected the grafts’ morphology, increasing surface roughness, but the novel design mimicked the corrugation approach used for synthetic grafts, causing significant improvements in kink resistance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development and Application of Silk-Proteins Based Biomaterials)
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Review

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14 pages, 573 KiB  
Review
The Formation of All-Silk Composites and Time–Temperature Superposition
by James A. King, Xin Zhang and Michael E. Ries
Materials 2023, 16(10), 3804; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16103804 - 18 May 2023
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2580
Abstract
Extensive studies have been conducted on utilising natural fibres as reinforcement in composite production. All-polymer composites have attracted much attention because of their high strength, enhanced interfacial bonding and recyclability. Silks, as a group of natural animal fibres, possess superior properties, including biocompatibility, [...] Read more.
Extensive studies have been conducted on utilising natural fibres as reinforcement in composite production. All-polymer composites have attracted much attention because of their high strength, enhanced interfacial bonding and recyclability. Silks, as a group of natural animal fibres, possess superior properties, including biocompatibility, tunability and biodegradability. However, few review articles are found on all-silk composites, and they often lack comments on the tailoring of properties through controlling the volume fraction of the matrix. To better understand the fundamental basis of the formation of silk-based composites, this review will discuss the structure and properties of silk-based composites with a focus on employing the time–temperature superposition principle to reveal the corresponding kinetic requirements of the formation process. Additionally, a variety of applications derived from silk-based composites will be explored. The benefits and constraints of each application will be presented and discussed. This review paper will provide a useful overview of research on silk-based biomaterials. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development and Application of Silk-Proteins Based Biomaterials)
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22 pages, 984 KiB  
Review
Novel Approaches and Biomaterials for Bone Tissue Engineering: A Focus on Silk Fibroin
by Federica Paladini and Mauro Pollini
Materials 2022, 15(19), 6952; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15196952 - 7 Oct 2022
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 3118
Abstract
Bone tissue engineering (BTE) represents a multidisciplinary research field involving many aspects of biology, engineering, material science, clinical medicine and genetics to create biological substitutes to promote bone regeneration. The definition of the most appropriate biomaterials and structures for BTE is still a [...] Read more.
Bone tissue engineering (BTE) represents a multidisciplinary research field involving many aspects of biology, engineering, material science, clinical medicine and genetics to create biological substitutes to promote bone regeneration. The definition of the most appropriate biomaterials and structures for BTE is still a challenge for researchers, aiming at simultaneously combining different features such as tissue generation properties, biocompatibility, porosity and mechanical strength. In this scenario, among the biomaterials for BTE, silk fibroin represents a valuable option for the development of functional devices because of its unique biological properties and the multiple chances of processing. This review article aims at providing the reader with a general overview of the most recent progresses in bone tissue engineering in terms of approaches and materials with a special focus on silk fibroin and the related mechanisms involved in bone regeneration, and presenting interesting results obtained by different research groups, which assessed the great potential of this protein for bone tissue engineering. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development and Application of Silk-Proteins Based Biomaterials)
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