The functional properties of six distinct electrospun silk material groups were evaluated to assess conformational and biocompatible characteristics related to wound dressings. In a hydrated state, all six silk matrices exhibited absorption, water vapor transmission, oxygen permeation and enzymatic biodegradation suitable for full-thickness wound sites. Employing constrained drying techniques, ...

Silk continues to amaze. This review unravels the most recent progress in silk science, spanning from fundamental insights medical silks. Key advances flow are examined, with specific reference role of metal ions switching a storage spinning state. Orthogonal thermoplastic molding is described, as transfer principles for triggering flow-induced crystallization other non-silk polymers. Other exc...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The Silk flow-diverter stent is increasingly used to treat complex intracranial aneurysms including wide-neck, fusiform aneurysms. Sparse data are available concerning long-term results of this technique. We report our 5-year experience with Silk stent treatment of intracranial aneurysms. MATERIALS AND METHODS A retrospective review of our prospectively maintained datab...

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...

In this study, Schwann cells, at a density of 1 × 10(5) cells/well, were cultured on regenerated silk fibroin nanofibers (305 ± 84 nm) prepared using the electrospinning method. Schwann cells cultured on the silk fibroin nanofibers appeared more ordered, their processes extended further, and they formed more extensive and complex interconnections. In addition, the silk fibroin nanofibers had no...

We used well-defined, fluorescence-free Raman spectra of single silk fibres to study silk ultrastructure. Major ampullate (MA) silk was reeled from the Araneus diadematus spider under controlled conditions. With a custom-built stress-strain gauge, we examined the mechanical properties of this silk both before and after supercontraction in a range of solvents. The solvents were found to modify t...

Silk fibers suffer from microstructural changes due to various external environmental conditions including daily washings. In this paper, we take the backscattering Mueller matrix images of silk samples for non-destructive and real-time quantitative characterization of the wavelength-scale microstructure and examination of the effects of washing by different detergents. The 2D images of the 16 ...

Bombyx mori (BM) silk fibroin is composed of two different subunits: heavy chain and light chain fibroin linked by a covalent disulfide bond. Current methods of separating the two silk fractions is complicated and produces inadequate quantities of the isolated components for the study of the individual light and heavy chain silks with respect to new materials. We report a simple method of separ...

The dispersion of nanoparticles in ordered polymer nanostructures can provide control over particle location and orientation, and pave the way for tailored nanomaterials that have enhanced mechanical, electrical, or optical properties. Here we used silk fibroin, a natural biopolymer, to embed gold NCs (nanocrystals), so as to obtain well-ordered structures such as nanowires and self-assembled t...

The genipin-cross-linked silk sericin/poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) films were developed aiming to be applied as two-dimensional wound dressings for the treatment of superficial wounds. The effects of genipin cross-linking concentration on the physical and biological properties of the films were investigated. The genipin-cross-linked silk sericin/PVA films showed the increased surface density, tens...