Preparation of Thai silk fibroin/gelatin electrospun fiber mats for controlled release applications

Abstract

This research aimed to study the preparation of fiber mats from Thai silk fibroin/type B gelatin (SF/GB) using electrospinning for controlled release applications. From the results, the increasing in applied voltage resulted in narrow fiber size distribution and decreased average fiber size. An increasing in silk fibroin content in blended solution also resulted in larger size of obtained electrospun fiber. A smooth fiber could be produced from SF/GB blended solution at weight blending ratios of 10/90, 20/80, 30/70, 40/60, and 50/50. Therefore, the blended SF/GB fiber mats at the weight ratio of 50/50, 30/70 and 10/90 were selected to prevent the water solubility of the fiber mats by crosslinking treatment. Among three treatment methods, spraying EDC/NHS dissolved in ethanol solution onto fiber mats following by soaking the fiber mats in that solution was a suitable treatment method because the blended fiber mats after treatment showed the lowest percentage of weight loss and the morphology similar to its original. Moreover, the blended fiber mats with high silk fibroin content showed good mechanical properties compared to those with low silk fibroin content. From in vitro biodegradation, SF/GB 10/90 fiber mats was rapidly degraded in collagenase solution because the structure of gelatin was the same as collagen that can be degraded by collagenase. From in vitro controlled release of model compounds from SF/GB blended fiber mats, it was expected that the same charge of blended fiber mats and azo-casein would result in the repulsion force. Azo-casein was continuously diffused from blended fiber mats within 72-h of incubation. In contrast, methylene blue and nerve growth factor could be absorbed by an attraction interaction between the blended fiber mats and the two model compounds. The release of these of model compounds could be controlled by the biodegradation of SF/GB blended fiber mats.