Method of forming an implantable knitted fabric comprising silk fibroin fibers
AssigneeAllergan, Inc.
InventorsGregory H. Altman, Jingson Chen, Rebecca L. Horan, David J. Horan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Silk is purified to eliminate immunogenic components (particularly sericin) and is used to form fabric that is used to form tissue-supporting prosthetic devices for implantation. The fabrics can carry functional groups, drugs, and other biological reagents. Applications include hernia repair, tissue wall reconstruction, and organ support, such as bladder slings. The silk fibers are arranged in parallel and, optionally, intertwined (e.g., twisted) to form a construct; sericin may be extracted at any point during the formation of the fabric, leaving a construct of silk fibroin fibers having excellent tensile strength and other mechanical properties.
Claims14
A method for forming an implantable knitted fabric comprising:
- (a) aligning silk fibroin fibers in parallel or intertwined with other silk fibroin fibers to form a yarn,
- (b) non-randomly organizing a plurality of the yarns to form the implantable knitted fabric, and
- (c) before or after forming the yarn or fabric, substantially removing sericin from the silk fibroin fibers without substantially altering the native structure of fibroin in the fibers,
- wherein the fibroin fibers having sericin substantially removed have not been dissolved and reconstituted.
A method for forming an implantable knitted fabric comprising:
- (a) aligning silk fibroin fibers in parallel or intertwined with other silk fibroin fibers to form a yarn,
- (b) non-randomly organizing a plurality of the yarns to form the implantable knitted fabric,
- (c) before or after forming the yarn or fabric, substantially removing sericin from the silk fibroin fibers without substantially altering the native structure of fibroin in the fibers, and
- (d) sterilizing the fabric,
- wherein the fibroin fibers having sericin substantially removed have not been dissolved and reconstituted.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.