Electrospun silk material systems for wound healing
AssigneeTrustees of Tufts College
InventorsXiaohui Zhang, David L. Kaplan, Scott E. Wharram, Stephen McCarthy
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention relates to the processes of preparing silkfibroin/polyethylene oxide blended materials, and the resulting materials thereof, which are suitable for biomedical applications such as wound healing. In particular, the electrospun silk fibroin/PEO mats with a silk:PEO blend ratio of 2:1 to 4:1, treated with controlled evaporation, constraint-drying techniques, and/or alcohol treatment, and/or PEO extraction, demonstrate suitable physical and biofunctional properties, such as fiber structure, topography, absorption, water vapor transmission rates, oxygen permeation, and biodegradability, relevant to biomaterial systems with utility for wound dressings.
Claims22
A process for producing a silk mat, comprising:
- electrospinning a blended polyethylene oxide (PEO) and aqueous silk fibroin solution, thereby forming a silk protein/PEO blended mat;
- and constraint-drying the electrospun silk mat, wherein the silk mat has a silk fibroin content ranging from about 50 wt % to about 100 wt % and wherein the silk mat has a thickness of about 20-30 microns.
An electrospun silk mat comprising a silk fibroin protein content ranging from about 50 wt % to about 100 wt %, wherein the silk mat has a thickness of about 20-30 microns.
A method of promoting wound healing comprising contacting a wound with at least one electrospun silk mat comprising a silk fibroin protein and, optionally, at least one active agent;
- wherein the silk fibroin protein ranges from about 50 wt % to about 90 wt %,
- wherein the silk mat has a thickness of about 20 microns to about 30 microns;
- wherein the silk mat has a water absorption content of more than about 460%, or equilibrium water content more than about 82%;
- and
- wherein the resulting silk mat has an oxygen transmission rate of more than about 15460 cm3/m2/day.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.