Flow analysis of aqueous solution of silk fibroin in the spinneret of Bombyx mori silkworm by combination of viscosity measurement and finite element method calculation

Moriya, Motoaki; Ohgo, Kosuke; Masubuchi, Yuichi; Asakura, Tetsuo

doi:10.1016/j.polymer.2007.12.032

Cited by 31 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…A potential explanation may be that the protein reduces its scope for entanglements by maintaining a rather dense coil configuration, such as the 'string of beads' model proposed by Vollrath and Porter [50]; this could arise due to the prevailing hydrophobicity of the repetitive amino acid sequences, as suggested by Sehnal and Zurovec [20]. These estimates were also significantly smaller than the value reported by Moriya et al [78], based on a similar analysis of comparable data. It appears, however, that their estimate contained an error; by omitting the concentration term, in effect, they obtained the molecular weight of solution (i.e.…”

Section: Calculating Molecular Weight Between Entanglementsmentioning

confidence: 67%

Rheological behaviour of native silk feedstocks

Laity

Gilks

Holland

2015

Polymer

154

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a b s t r a c tWhilst much is known about the properties of silks, the means by which native silk feedstocks are spun still represent a gap in our knowledge. Rheology of the native silk feedstocks is germane to an understanding of the natural spinning process. Yet, an overview of the literature reveals subtle limitations and inconsistencies between studies, which has been largely attributed to sample-to-sample variation when testing these exquisitely flow-sensitive materials. This ambiguity has prevented reliable, consistent inferences from standard polymer rheology and constitutes an obstacle to further development.To address this challenge, we present the largest study to date into the rheological properties of native silk feedstocks from Bombyx mori larvae. A combination of shear and oscillatory measurements were used to examine in detail the relationships between concentration, low shear viscosity, relaxation times, complex modulus and estimates of the molecular weights between entanglements. The results from this highly detailed survey will provide a sound basis for further experimental or theoretical work and lay the foundations for future bio-inspired processing of proteins.

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Section: Calculating Molecular Weight Between Entanglementsmentioning

confidence: 67%

Rheological behaviour of native silk feedstocks

Laity

Gilks

Holland

2015

Polymer

154

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“…Nevertheless, the importance of a flow-induced phase change at a critical shear rate or stress has motivated a considerable number of rheological investigations [36,37,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71,72]. Amongst these, recent work has demonstrated that B. mori silk feedstock behaves as a typical polymer solution [59,60,61].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Rheology behind Stress-Induced Solidification in Native Silk Feedstocks

Laity

Holland

2016

IJMS

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The mechanism by which native silk feedstocks are converted to solid fibres in nature has attracted much interest. To address this question, the present work used rheology to investigate the gelation of Bombyx mori native silk feedstock. Exceeding a critical shear stress appeared to be more important than shear rate, during flow-induced initiation. Compositional changes (salts, pH etc.,) were not required, although their possible role in vivo is not excluded. Moreover, after successful initiation, gel strength continued to increase over a considerable time under effectively quiescent conditions, without requiring further application of the initial stimulus. Gelation by elevated temperature or freezing was also observed. Prior to gelation, literature suggests that silk protein adopts a random coil configuration, which argued against the conventional explanation of gelation, based on hydrophilic and hydrophobic interactions. Instead, a new hypothesis is presented, based on entropically-driven loss of hydration, which appears to explain the apparently diverse methods by which silk feedstocks can be gelled.

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“…While many scientists ever built their hopes on gene engineering technology to express silk proteins in other species [10,11] , the poor mechanical properties of artificial silks obtained from gene engineering made them realize the importance of the spinning process of silkworms and spiders [12][13][14] . The properties of silk fibroin (SF) solutions from spiders and silkworms are studied to certain extent [15][16][17] , influences of pH value and metal irons in SF solution on the structural changes of SF are investigated [18,19] , and the spinneret structure of silkworms is observed as well [20,21] . However, most of the studies reported are performed in vitro, rather than in vivo.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The properties of native silk fibroin (SF) solution/gel from bombyx mori silkworms during the full fifth instar larval stage

Wang

Mao

et al. 2011

J. Wuhan Univ. Technol.-Mat. Sci. Edit.

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The properties of native silk fibroin (SF) solution in the gland of silkworms during the full fifth instar larval stage were examined in an attempt to elucidate the mechanism of natural silk spinning in the silkworm. The flow and gelation behavior, birefringence phenomenon, rheological properties, specific viscosity and conformation of SF solutions from the gland of silkworms were measured by polarized light microscope, HAKKE rheometer, Ubbelohde viscometer and Solid-state 13 C NMR, respectively. After comparing their properties with regenerated SF solutions from natural silk fibers, it is believed that there exists a progressive maturation process favorable to spin silk fibers with excellent properties from native SF solution and a weak bonded and highly oriented SF gel network with SF molecules partly extended in α-helix conformation is formed in the middle section of the gland of silkworms. This suggests that a biomimetic maturation process for making spinnable solution might be necessary for artificial silk fiber spinning in order to obtain improved fiber properties.

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Flow analysis of aqueous solution of silk fibroin in the spinneret of Bombyx mori silkworm by combination of viscosity measurement and finite element method calculation

Cited by 31 publications

References 20 publications

Rheological behaviour of native silk feedstocks

Rheological behaviour of native silk feedstocks

The Rheology behind Stress-Induced Solidification in Native Silk Feedstocks

The properties of native silk fibroin (SF) solution/gel from bombyx mori silkworms during the full fifth instar larval stage

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