In this study, the inhibitory effect of corn silk on melanin production was evaluated. This study was performed to investigate the inhibitory effect of corn silk on melanin production in Melan-A cells by measuring melanin production and protein expression. The corn silk extract applied on Melan-A cells at a concentration of 100 ppm decreased melanin production by 37.2% without cytotoxicity. Thi...

Biomaterials for bone tissue regeneration represent a major focus of orthopedic research. However, only a handful of polymeric biomaterials are utilized today because of their failure to address critical issues like compressive strength for load-bearing bone grafts. In this study development of a high compressive strength (~13 MPa hydrated state) polymeric bone composite materials is reported, ...

In the past few years a number of reviews, books and journal articles featuring silks have been published. Silks are produced by over 41,000 species of spiders (class Arachnida) and by many insects (terrestrial and aquatic), particularly in the order Lepidoptera (Foelix, 1996); they are defined as externally spun fibrous material generated from protein secretions. The cocoon silk from the domes...

As a natural protein, silk has a tremendous demand as textile commodity. However, compared to Bombyx mori silk, commonly known as mulberry silk, the other non-mulberry silks have some drawbacks like coarseness, low draping, wash and wear characteristics etc. which can be changed using chemical treatment. In this study, effects of some highly polar, non-polar and bipolar solvents on fibre of mug...

Estradiol-17beta (E2) at the dose of 1 microg/g caused an increase in cell area, lumen area and the total (cell + lumen) area of posterior silk gland (PSG) in Bombyx mori indicating that exogenously applied estradiol-17beta has a regulatory influence on silk gland activity. A dose-dependent variation in trehalase activity of PSG was found on the 5th day after topical administration of estradiol...

Spider capture silk is a biomaterial with both high strength and high elasticity, but the structural design principle underlying these remarkable properties is still unknown. It was revealed recently by atomic force microscopy that an exponential force-extension relationship holds both for capture silk mesostructures and for intact capture silk fibers [N. Becker et al., Nat. Mater. 2, 278 (2003...

Microneedle vaccines mimic several aspects of cutaneous pathogen invasion by targeting antigen to skin-resident dendritic cells and triggering local inflammatory responses in the skin, which are correlated with enhanced immune responses. Here, we tested whether control over vaccine delivery kinetics can enhance immunity through further mimicry of kinetic profiles present during natural acute in...

Silk fibers are fibrous protein with unique combination of strength and toughness. Its biocompatibility makes it an ideal candidate for various biomedical applications. We hypothesized that composites consisting of silk and carbon nanotube (CNT) will have superior mechanical properties. This paper describes the production of protein based scaffolds having required mechanical properties and acti...

The mechanism by which native silk feedstocks are converted to solid fibres in nature has attracted much interest. To address this question, the present work used rheology to investigate the gelation of Bombyx mori native silk feedstock. Exceeding a critical shear stress appeared to be more important than shear rate, during flow-induced initiation. Compositional changes (salts, pH etc.,) were n...