Biomaterial Inks from Peptide-Functionalized Silk Fibers for 3D Printing of Futuristic Wound-Healing and Sensing Materials

Abstract

This study illustrates the sensing and wound healing properties of silk fibroin in combination with peptide patterns, with an emphasis on the printability of multilayered grids, and envisions possible applications of these next-generation silk-based materials. Functionalized silk fibers covalently linked to an arginine–glycine–aspartic acid (RGD) peptide create a platform for preparing a biomaterial ink for 3D printing of grid-like piezoresistors with wound-healing and sensing properties. The culture medium obtained from 3D-printed silk fibroin enriched with RGD peptide improves cell adhesion, accelerating skin repair. Specifically, RGD peptide-modified silk fibroin demonstrated biocompatibility, enhanced cell adhesion, and higher wound closure rates at lower concentration than the neat peptide. It was also shown that the printing of peptide-modified silk fibroin produces a piezoresistive transducer that is the active component of a sensor based on a Schottky diode harmonic transponder encoding information about pressure. We discovered that such biomaterial ink printed in a multilayered grid can be used as a humidity sensor. Furthermore, humidity activates a transition between low and high conductivity states in this medium that is retained unless a negative voltage is applied, paving the way for utilization in non-volatile organic memory devices. Globally, these results pave the way for promising applications, such as monitoring parameters such as human wound care and being integrated in bio-implantable processors.

Could an Anterior Cruciate Ligament Be Tissue-Engineered from Silk?

“…It allows for numerous cross-linking methods and, therefore, a high amount of different applications are available [97,98]. Silk-based bioprinting inks, biofunctionalized with RGD for tissue engineering, e.g., for wound healing of the skin, were developed [99]. Furthermore, different bioinks for the 3D printing of bone or cartilage scaffolds were investigated combining silk fibroin with gelatin, hyaluronic acid, tricalcium phosphate, hydroxy apatite (HA) or reinforcing silk microparticles with PCL [100][101][102].…”

Mechanical Transfer of Black Phosphorus on a Silk Fibroin Substrate: A Viable Method for Photoresponsive and Printable Biomaterials

“…This enables the transfer of BP flakes on an SF substrate and subsequent exfoliation in an organic medium, thereby offering multifunctional capabilities for potential biomedical applications. Moreover, SF is an attractive building block that can be three-dimensionally printed from different solutions into various structures for the fabrication of functional composites, as previously shown in refs , .…”

Bio-Based Tannin-Furanic-Silk Adhesives: Applications in Plywood and Chemical Cross-linking Mechanisms

“…Such a biopolymer recovered from insect farming [Bombyx mori (B. mori) silkworms] can be processed in solution to enable the fabrication of adhesives with tunable mechanical properties, opening up alternatives to the main plant proteins currently proposed. , …”

“…32,33 Silk fibroin (hereinafter named regenerated silk, RS) is one of the most promising natural protein-based biomaterials due to its inspiring biodegradability and superior mechanical performance. 34 Such a biopolymer recovered from insect farming [ Bombyx mori (B. mori) silkworms] can be processed in solution to enable the fabrication of adhesives with tunable mechanical properties, 35 opening up alternatives to the main plant proteins currently proposed. 36,37 In this study, the effect of adding different amounts of RS into tannin-furfuryl alcohol formulations for plywood manufacturing was investigated.…”