Method for the preparation of a non-woven silk fibroin fabrics
AssigneeConsorzio per GLI Studi Universitari
InventorsUbaldo Armato, Ilaria Dal Pra, Claudio Migliaresi, Antonella Motta, Kemal Kesenci
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A process for producing non-woven silk fiber fabrics comprises the following steps: a) obtaining silk fibroin, for example either from silk cocoons, or silk textiles or waste silk; b) removing the sericin layer covering the silk fibroin fibers, when present; c) breaking the disulfide bonds between heavy (350 kDa) and light (27 kDa) chains of silk fibroin in order to obtain the production of chain fragments which serve as a specific cellular recognition sites promoting the attachment and growth of cells, d) homogenising of the material resulting from step c).
Claims14
A method for producing non-woven silk fiber fabrics comprising the following steps:
- a) preparing silk fibroin solution by adding degummed silk fibroin to formic acid solution having a concentration of formic acid from 88% to 99% by weight;
- b) mixing the solution to facilitate breaking of the disulfide bonds between heavy (350 kDa) and light (27 kDa) chains of silk fibroin in order to obtain the production of light and heavy chain fragments, wherein said chain fragments serve as a specific cellular recognition sites for promoting the attachment and growth of cells;
- c) removing the formic acid to obtain non-woven silk fiber fabrics;
- and
- d) washing the obtained non-woven silk fiber fabrics.
A method of utilizing a non-woven silk fiber fabrics in tissue engineering comprising:
- a) preparing silk fibroin solution by adding degummed silk fibroin to formic acid solution having a concentration of formic acid from 88% to 99% by weight;
- b) mixing the solution to facilitate breaking of the disulfide bonds between heavy (350 kDa) and light (27 kDa) chains of silk fibroin in order to obtain the production of light and heavy chain fragments, wherein said chain fragments serve as a specific cellular recognition sites for promoting the attachment and growth of cells;
- c) removing the formic acid to obtain non-woven silk fiber fabrics;
- d) washing the obtained non-woven silk fiber fabrics;
- and
- e) utilizing the silk fiber fabrics as scaffolds in tissue engineering, wherein the scaffolds are suitable to prepare in vitro cultures of isolated cells or cells-forming tissues.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.