Construction and Biocompatibility Evaluation of Fibroin/Sericin-Based Scaffolds

Abstract

Because tissue responses to implants determine the success or failure of tissue engineering products, fibroin/sericin-based scaffolds including bionic silk scaffolds, native silk fibers, fibroin fibers, and regenerated fibroin have been fabricated, and their biocompatibility was investigated. Fibroin/sericin-based scaffolds were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Bionic silk scaffolds were beneficial to silk fiber formation through self-assembly. Histological and immunofluorescent staining analysis demonstrated that bionic silk scaffolds did not show significant inflammatory responses. Immunization analysis showed that soluble fibroin and sericin did not show obvious immunogenicity. This work supplied an effective approach to design fibroin/sericin-based scaffolds for tissue engineering and drug delivery.

Silk fibroin hydrogels for biomedical applications

“…Inevitably, the silk fibers show reactions ranging from delayed allergies to acute and chronic inflammatory processes in practical application 37 . Sericin was previously regarded as the main participant in inducing the immune responses mounted against the fibers and ultimately leading to inflammations, such as T‐cell‐mediated anaphylactic reaction 38 . Therefore, braided sutures are often degummed to reduce their inflammatory/immune response for clinical practice.…”

“…37 Sericin was previously regarded as the main participant in inducing the immune responses mounted against the fibers and ultimately leading to inflammations, such as T-cell-mediated anaphylactic reaction. 38 Therefore, braided sutures are often degummed to reduce their inflammatory/immune response for clinical practice. After degumming, silk fibers can be processed into surgical nets, sutures, and clothing for various skin diseases.…”

A silk fibroin scaffold that accelerates both biodegradation and cell proliferation by incorporating sericin

“…23 The presence of a large number of hydrophilic groups on the side chain and the molecular conformation of the main chain with a random coil result in sericin being vulnerable to protease attack and therefore easy biodegradation. [24][25][26][27] We hypothesized that sericin incorporated into 3D silk fibroin scaffolds will not only accelerate the biodegradation of silk fibroin scaffolds but also significantly change the pore microstructure within 3D silk fibroin scaffolds due to the influence of the sericin phase on the silk fibroin phase in the hybrid system, thus affecting the adhesion and proliferation of cells cultured in the scaffold. Based on these hypotheses, a 3D silk fibroin/sericin hybrid scaffold was prepared by crosslinking and followed by freeze-drying, and the effects of the silk fibroin/ sericin ratio on the pore wall microstructure within the scaffolds, condensed structure and compression properties of the scaffold were investigated.…”

“…23 The presence of a large number of hydrophilic groups on the side chain and the molecular conformation of the main chain with a random coil result in sericin being vulnerable to protease attack and therefore easy biodegradation. 24–27…”

The immune microenvironment and tissue engineering strategies for spinal cord regeneration

“…The difficulty of transplantation and endogenous recruitment cells increases with high levels of reactive oxygen species or nitrogen (ROSN)accumulation under ischemia, excessive tissue remodeling under inflammatory response, excitability and cytotoxicity as well as glial scar formation ( Bi et al, 2021 ). The combination strategy based on scaffolds can provide an excellent microenvironment for nerve regeneration, and it is mainly performed based on the two aspects of promoting growth or eliminating inhibitive factors ( Fu et al, 2022 ). Various studies have been performed to promote spinal cord regeneration through scaffold load cells or nutritional factors.…”