Abstract
Silk sericin is a protein from a silkworm’s cocoon. It has good biocompatibility, hydrophilicity, bioactivity, and biodegradability. However, sericin could not be used in biomedical materials directly because of its frangible characteristic. To develop multifunctional sericin-based materials for biomedical purposes, we prepared a sericin/agar (SS/agar) composite film through the blending of sericin and agar and repetitive freeze-thawing. Then, we synthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in situ on the surface of the composite film to endow it with antibacterial activity. Water contact angle, swelling and losing ratio, and mechanical properties analysis indicated that the composite film had excellent mechanical property, hydrophilicity, hygroscopicity, and stability. Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis confirmed the successful modification of AgNPs on the composite film. X-ray powder diffraction showed the face-centered cubic structures of the AgNPs. This AgNPs modified composite film exhibited an excellent antibacterial capability against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Our study develops a novel AgNPs/sericin/agar composite film with enhanced mechanical performance and an antimicrobial property for potential biomedical applications.
Highlights
It appears promising to combine the outstanding properties of natural protein and polysaccharides for biomedical applications [1]
Our result indicated the excellent stability of the silk sericin (SS)/agar film
The results suggested that the SS/agar film had good mechanical was selected for the experiments
Summary
It appears promising to combine the outstanding properties of natural protein and polysaccharides for biomedical applications [1]. As a natural macromolecular protein, silk sericin (SS) is composed of 25% of the cocoon that is produced by the silkworm [2,3]. As sericin has a content of serine that is about 33.43% [5], it is considered as a natural moisturizing factor for the human skin due to its excellent moisture retention capacity [6]. Sericin is a biologically active substance in wound dressings due to its diverse activities such as ROS clearance, anti-tyrosinase, and its immunomodulatory capacity [10,11]. Sericin can promote skin keratinocytes and fibroblasts adhesion and proliferation [12,13,14,15], especially for cell growth and migration [16,17], which makes it favorable for wound dressing and tissue engineering
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